Ottawa Sun:
Ottawa boaters feared drowned | Ottawa and Region | News | Ottawa Sun
As the sun set over the Ottawa River last night, a desperate woman searched its shores for her boyfriend, who never returned after he set off with a friend in a yellow dinghy Saturday evening.
Fanzheng Meng, 28, and his friend, Chen Yuan, 20, are missing and presumed drowned. They were last seen paddling near Britannia Beach at about 6:50 p.m. Searchers found the dinghy a short time later, just east of the Deschenes Rapids.
Meng and his girlfriend, Judy Zhang, had joined friends for a cookout at the popular west-end beach Saturday afternoon. It was Zhang's 21st birthday and the couple were going to an outdoor party afterwards.
But the men never returned to shore. Zhang called 911 and a search began on both sides of the river. It involved 12 members of the fire department's water rescue team, five boats, dogs, and an airplane with a heat-seeking system. The search lasted until just before midnight Saturday. It resumed at 8 a.m. yesterday, but was called off at 1:30 p.m.
PADDLING AROUND BAY
Kayaker Brad Barton had noticed the men paddling around the bay in the dinghy Saturday afternoon. They made a few trips to the break and back, then a couple of girls took a turn in the dinghy.
"They were going around the bay. They had oars," he said.
Barton became concerned when he saw the men getting close to the break, where the currents get stronger, because he didn't think they were wearing life jackets.
Zhang and Meng, a computer student at Algonquin College, share a Centrepointe townhouse with Zhang's brother, Wen Bing Zhang, 26.
"She's very upset, she can't stay at home, she's searching along the river," Wen Bing Zhang said last night.
Judy Zhang and her friends walked the beach all night Saturday and all day yesterday, praying the pair would resurface or they'd find some clue, maybe one of the water socks they were wearing.
But the group returned to the Centrepointe townhouse as the sun was setting yesterday because Zhang had become physically ill.
"She is not good. Not good at all," a woman holding the couple's Shih Tzu said.
Meng, who goes by the name Jacky, moved to Ottawa from northern China several years ago.
WOMAN DEVASTATED
Friends contacted the Chinese Embassy and are arranging for Meng's parents to come to Canada.
Wen Bing Zhang decided not to go to the beach Saturday. Now he's trying to support his devastated sister.
"The only thing I can do is take care of my sister, she's very weak, she didn't sleep. It shocked her," he said.
Outside, friends stood smoking, speaking Mandarin, claiming the police have told them "nothing."
The dinghy belonged to Meng and had one life jacket in it when it was found. It is believed neither man was wearing a life jacket.
Although search efforts were hampered yesterday by strong winds and waves, the waters were still when the men disappeared Saturday.
"It was calm," one of the men said, rubbing his temple.
"No wind at all."
