Unclear how man found in cardiac arrest ended up in drained Rideau Canal: paramedics

Paramedics say they still don’t know how a man ended up in cardiac arrest in the drained Rideau Canal on Thursday night – but they believe his chances of pulling through are “very grim.”

The Ottawa Paramedic Service and firefighters responded to a 911 call shortly after 10:15 p.m. and found a man, who appeared to be in his 30s, lying in the mud in the canal, underneath a bridge near the Shaw Convention Centre in downtown Ottawa.

Paramedics began performing CPR on the man right in the sludge, which proved to be “quite challenging,” spokesperson Marc-Antoine Deschamps said.

Deschamps said they then lifted the man out of the canal and continued CPR in an ambulance. He was taken to hospital in critical, life-threatening condition.

The man had no other significant injuries, Deschamps said, which left paramedics stumped about whether the man had jumped or fallen from a bridge, or been walking in the canal before he collapsed.

There are two bridges close to the convention centre but Deschamps said he couldn’t confirm under which the man was found.