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Four children have been pronounced dead in hospital after their bodies were found on Saturday morning. They had been swept away during a fishing trip in Quebec, provincial police have confirmed.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) received a 911 call at 2 a.m. about a group of 11 people that had gone missing overnight Friday on the St. Lawrence River in Portneuf-sur-Mer, on Quebec’s North Shore.
The group was swept away by a strong tide, say police. They could not confirm if the fishing boat was swept away by the current or if the people were swimming in the water.
Six of them were rescued and one man in his 30s is still missing. The four children were found on the river’s shore early Saturday morning, a few hours after the emergency call was placed.
The children were transported to hospital and all four were pronounced dead by afternoon.
The SQ’s rescue team, divers, and members of the Canadian Armed Forces are still searching for the man who remains missing.
Regional representative Yves Montigny released a statement thanking the rescue teams for their work, adding that he stands with the loved ones and community touched by this incident. Premier François Legault retweeted the statement.
Portneuf-sur-Mer is a small village municipality in the Côte-Nord (North Shore) region of Quebec, about 550 kilometres northeast of Montreal.