Provincial police find body of missing man on lake east of Montreal

Provincial police say they have found the body of a 20-year-old man who disappeared in Lac Waterloo after a pedal boat accident, east of Montreal.

Sgt. Stephane Tremblay says divers recovered the body today, more than 24 hours after he vanished early Saturday morning.

Police say the victim, who didn’t know how to swim and wasn’t wearing a life-jacket, was alone on the pedal boat which began to sink at around 5 a.m.

READ MORE: Quebec police search lake, shoreline for missing boater in his 20s

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A witness on a nearby dock attempted to swim to the man to help him before returning to shore to call 911.

Police and firefighters searched the waters and along the shoreline Saturday in the area, about 90 kilometres east of Montreal.

The province has reported an notable increase in the number of drownings this year, according to numbers compiled by the Lifesaving Society’s Quebec branch.

Numbers compiled by the organization from public sources suggest 56 drownings in 2020 as of Saturday, compared to 37 on the same date in 2019.

6:10 National Drowning Prevention Week