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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/believ...unges+through+Ottawa+River/2629235/story.html
Police assess risk of river recovery after presumed drowning
OTTAWA — Ottawa police were assessing Tuesday morning whether to head back into a dangerous Ottawa River after the presumed drowning death of a Sudbury man Monday night.
Spokesman Const. Alain Boucher said police “will not risk someone else’s life” if the melting river is deemed too unsafe to work in.
The missing man was identified as Jocelyn Belanger by those at the scene who knew him. He had been using a truck to try to tow a fishing shack off the river.
According to police, the truck first became stuck in the soft ice at about 7:30 p.m. just off Petrie Island. Belanger and a friend were trying to free the vehicle when the ice gave way, sending the truck and its owner under the surface of the frigid water.
“This was totally unnecessary,” Ottawa Police Insp. Mike Sanford said Monday. He said police have issued a series of warnings telling people to keep off the ice because of the mild weather.
Eight days earlier, another small truck went through the ice of the Ottawa River, near Aylmer Island, killing 37-year-old federal public servant Rachel Taylor. The weather has only become warmer since.
People at the scene of Monday's incident said Belanger had been on the ice with his friend, Aurele Beaudry.
The two were trying to pull a fishing shack closer to the shore. Belanger was outside his truck when the wheels began to sink in the soft ice. It appears that before he could escape the ice cracked.
Beaudry’s wife, Louise, said her husband tried to grab Belanger, reaching into the water, but he disappeared under the ice.
Louise Beaudry said her husband called her in a panic from out on the ice.
“My husband was screaming on the phone that Peewee (Belanger’s nickname) was under the ice. He kept saying I’ve got to rescue him. I’ve got to rescue him."
Fearful of what her husband might do, she raced to the scene, all the while unable to get in touch with him again.
“I kept trying him on the cell phone but there was no answer,” she said.
It was only when she got to the scene, at about 8 p.m., that she found out from police her husband was still alive.
She said her husband and the missing man were best friends and fished together on the ice for many years.
Similarly, in last week’s drowning, the truck that plunged through the river ice was driven by a man who had been out on the ice hundreds of times with his truck.
That man, Lee Bourdon, spoke to the Citizen after trying in vain to keep his girlfriend, Rachel Taylor, from drowning. He said he wanted people to realize that they shouldn’t go out on the ice again this year.
“It would be good for people to know that the season is over for any kind of activity on the river,” he said on Feb. 21.
Sanford said late Monday that police and fire crews were trying to determine whether it was safe to use divers to try to recover the man’s body.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Police assess risk of river recovery after presumed drowning
OTTAWA — Ottawa police were assessing Tuesday morning whether to head back into a dangerous Ottawa River after the presumed drowning death of a Sudbury man Monday night.
Spokesman Const. Alain Boucher said police “will not risk someone else’s life” if the melting river is deemed too unsafe to work in.
The missing man was identified as Jocelyn Belanger by those at the scene who knew him. He had been using a truck to try to tow a fishing shack off the river.
According to police, the truck first became stuck in the soft ice at about 7:30 p.m. just off Petrie Island. Belanger and a friend were trying to free the vehicle when the ice gave way, sending the truck and its owner under the surface of the frigid water.
“This was totally unnecessary,” Ottawa Police Insp. Mike Sanford said Monday. He said police have issued a series of warnings telling people to keep off the ice because of the mild weather.
Eight days earlier, another small truck went through the ice of the Ottawa River, near Aylmer Island, killing 37-year-old federal public servant Rachel Taylor. The weather has only become warmer since.
People at the scene of Monday's incident said Belanger had been on the ice with his friend, Aurele Beaudry.
The two were trying to pull a fishing shack closer to the shore. Belanger was outside his truck when the wheels began to sink in the soft ice. It appears that before he could escape the ice cracked.
Beaudry’s wife, Louise, said her husband tried to grab Belanger, reaching into the water, but he disappeared under the ice.
Louise Beaudry said her husband called her in a panic from out on the ice.
“My husband was screaming on the phone that Peewee (Belanger’s nickname) was under the ice. He kept saying I’ve got to rescue him. I’ve got to rescue him."
Fearful of what her husband might do, she raced to the scene, all the while unable to get in touch with him again.
“I kept trying him on the cell phone but there was no answer,” she said.
It was only when she got to the scene, at about 8 p.m., that she found out from police her husband was still alive.
She said her husband and the missing man were best friends and fished together on the ice for many years.
Similarly, in last week’s drowning, the truck that plunged through the river ice was driven by a man who had been out on the ice hundreds of times with his truck.
That man, Lee Bourdon, spoke to the Citizen after trying in vain to keep his girlfriend, Rachel Taylor, from drowning. He said he wanted people to realize that they shouldn’t go out on the ice again this year.
“It would be good for people to know that the season is over for any kind of activity on the river,” he said on Feb. 21.
Sanford said late Monday that police and fire crews were trying to determine whether it was safe to use divers to try to recover the man’s body.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
