A 25-year-old man from Campbell’s Bay drowned in a lake near the town of Otter Lake on the night of July 12. His body was recovered by police divers on the afternoon of July 13.
Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Sgt. Marc Tessier said police received a call around 9 p.m. on Saturday night for assistance rescuing a man from a small lake off Highway 301, just north of Otter Lake.
“For now what we can understand is that people were on a floating dock and were trying to get back on shore but one was not able to do that. People tried to rescue him but they were not able to,” Tessier said Monday morning, noting the man was not wearing a life jacket.
Emergency responders from the Otter Lake Fire Department were first to respond to the scene.
Department chief Denis Chaussé said nine emergency responders, a firetruck, a medical truck and the rescue boat were at the lake by 9:40 p.m., after receiving the call at 9:09 p.m..
Chaussé said responders rescued one person from the water, while another, who seemed to be in shock, was cared for on shore.
Tessier said SQ police officers joined first responders in the search on Saturday night, and after failing to locate the man, police divers returned to the lake at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning to continue the search. His body was recovered around 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“For now the investigation is ongoing. The coroner was advised [ . . . ] We’re going to try to determine before the accident what happened exactly,” Tessier said, adding a toxicology report would also likely be conducted.
