The body of a Quyon man who has been missing in the Ottawa River since the evening of July 27 has been recovered after an extensive police search.
According to an update from MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais police, the man was located by Sûreté du Québec divers at around 12.45 p.m. today, July 29.
“It took police a good hour to get the victim to shore, at which point he was confirmed dead,” said police spokesperson Josée Forest.
Police are not releasing his name at this time.
According to a Monday morning press release from the police, the 53-year-old man jumped into the water from his pontoon boat around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday evening to try to help a woman who appeared to be in distress near Mohr Island, a couple of kilometres downriver of Quyon.
The woman was rescued by another person and is doing well, Forest said Monday.
The man, however, was not wearing a life jacket, so sank underwater.
She said an intensive search was quickly launched by boaters and firefighters from Pontiac and Ottawa, and that the Ottawa Police searched the area well into the night. Police from the MRC des Collines and the Sûreté du Québec continued the search on July 28 and 29.
Forest said a coroner’s inquest will be conducted to establish the cause and circumstances of the drowning, but that for now, the evidence indicates the death was accidental.
