The deaths of Royal Military College officer cadets who drowned in a crash that sent their vehicle into Lake Ontario in Kingston in 2022 are not related to their military service, an investigation has found.
Officer Cadets Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murphy and Andrés Salek were all killed in the single-vehicle crash when their vehicle plunged into the lake at Point Fredrick on RMC’s campus at around 2 a.m. on April 29, 2022,
All four cadets were fourth-year students and were set to graduate as officers in the Canadian Armed Forces.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Armed Forces released the results of a summary investigation into the fatal single-vehicle crash.
The investigation found that all four men were not on duty at the time of their deaths and that the deaths were not attributable to military service.
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The military has previously said the cause of the crash was related to dangerous driving and that all four men died from drowning.
“The circumstances surrounding this accident are truly tragic and I want to express my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the officer cadets,” said Major-General Denis O’Reilly, Commander Canadian Defence Academy, in a statement.
“While the process was lengthy, I have accepted the findings of the Summary Investigation. My thoughts continue to be with the families who I hope can eventually find peace in the midst of this tragedy.”
The families of the four officer cadets have been briefed about the investigation’s findings, the CAF said.
According to the CAF, summary investigations are internal, administrative, fact-finding investigations that are not mandated to mandated to make findings of disciplinary, civil, or criminal liability.
In this case, the CAF said the summary investigation was convened to examine service-related circumstances surrounding the deaths and to recommend, if any, applicable preventative measures.