A man in his twenties has been missing since Friday evening in the North Shore, when he would have ventured into the Natashquan River to retrieve a drifting canoe.
At around 5:30 p.m. Friday, the police were notified that a man had sunk in the river, said Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesperson Louis-Phillipe Bibeau.
The victim and two other young men were standing on the banks when their boat was swept away by the current. He would then have tried to stop it, but would have engulfed in the river in his maneuver.
Research was initiated by boat patrollers and forest rangers along the banks. A Coast Guard helicopter was deployed on Saturday to search for the man by air.
Saturday morning, divers from the SQ headed for the scene to begin underwater searches.