Quebec’s coroner’s office confirmed the identities of the two French snowmobilers found in the waters of Lac-Saint-Jean on Sunday as 24-year-old Yann Thierry and 34-year-old Julien Benoît.
Both victims, whose bodies were found more than three kilometres from where the initial search began, went missing last Tuesday along with four others when their snowmobiles broke through the ice and plunged into the lake.
A total of nine people were on the snowmobile trip and involved in the incident: eight French tourists and one guide from Montreal.
The group had left the safety of the marked trail and ventured onto the icy area of Lac-Saint-Jean, where the ice gave way somewhere between Saint-Henri-de-Taillon and Alma.
Two of the group were able to save a third person who had fallen into the cold waters and went to alert authorities of the other six missing men.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) search and rescue team pulled the guide, Benoit L’Espérance, from the water on Tuesday night. He died in hospital early Wednesday morning.
Rescuers found the body of 58-year-old Gilles Claude on Friday, about two kilometres from where the first snowmobiles were located.
Two remaining French tourists are still missing: Jean-René Dumoulin, 24, and Arnaud Antoine, 25.
The SQ’s search and rescue teams are on their sixth search day as they continue to look for the final two remaining missing tourists.
The search party has involved divers, as well as officers searching by helicopter and on land.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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