One person was still missing after two people were pulled out of Lake Margaret on Monday and sent to hospital.
ST. THOMAS – Police and firefighters spent holiday Monday searching for a missing canoeist here, with one official describing it as a “recovery” effort after two others who’d also been on the tipped-over canoe were found safe.
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Emergency crews were called to Lake Margaret – a man-made lake that was once a gravel pit in the city’s south end – at about 8 am after police were notified that a canoe carrying three adults had tipped over. Two of its occupants got out of the water but a third failed to resurface, prompting a search that continued well into the afternoon.
“Two people were rushed to St Thomas Elgin General Hospital, they’re OK, and a third has yet to be found,” St. Thomas fire Chief Dave Gregory said at the lake on Monday afternoon. “At this point we’re assuming this is a recovery.”
The missing person is a man believed to be in his mid to late 20s, said Gregory, who didn’t provide any other details about the missing person’s identity.
Gregory said emergency crews believe the trio was fishing when the canoe tipped over. It wasn’t yet clear whether they were wearing life jackets.
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Several boats were on the water searching for the missing person, and there was a heavy presence of police officers and firefighters from St. Thomas along with paramedics and Coast Guard officials. Gregory said the Ontario Provincial Police dive team was also expected to join search efforts.
The Coast Guard was using “sonar and depth finders” to aid in the search, said Deputy Fire Chief Kim Destun.
Both Destun and Gregory said search efforts were being hindered by the amount of weeds in the water.
According to the City of St. Thomas, the depth of the water in Lake Margaret ranges between one and three meters with a six-meter hole near the middle. Per a measurement tool on Google Maps, the width of the lake is about 225 meters at its greatest distance, and about 830 meters long.
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Monday’s incident is the most recent in what has been a deadly summer on waterways in the London region and across Southwestern Ontario, where there have been 13 water-related deaths.
Last month, a vigil was held for seven-year-old Anna Bielli after she was swept away by a storm-swollen Thames River 300 meters east of the Adelaide Street Bridge in northeast London. Her body was found in the river near Western University after a three-day search.
Also in Augustan unidentified body was pulled from the Thames River, while one person drowned in Lake Erie at the Leamington pier.
In July, 14-year-old Omer Buz went into Lake Erie at Port Stanley’s main beach but didn’t resurface, triggering an anguishing search that ended with the recovery of his body two days later. A day after Buz went missing, four people were rescued from the water at the same beach.
Two people including a kayaker have died in Lake Huron this summer, with other drownings in Lake St. Clairthe Detroit River, and the Grand River.
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