Tragedy on the Haute-Côte-Nord: four children perished during a fishing trip near the St. Lawrence River in Portneuf-sur-Mer, on the night of Friday to Saturday. The body of a man in his thirties was also recovered at the end of the evening.
Authorities were contacted around 2 a.m. Friday night. According to initial information, a group of a dozen people were fishing along the St. Lawrence River when they were surprised by the tide.
They were in an area at the junction of the Portneuf River and the St. Lawrence River, near the main street.
Six people were rescued in time, but five others disappeared. Saturday morning, four of the children were found unresponsive by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and transported to the CLSC. The SQ was able to confirm their death at the beginning of the afternoon, after having received authorization from the medical authorities.
The identity of the victims was not known in the middle of the afternoon, but the children are over 10 years old, according to Stéphane Tremblay, spokesman for the SQ.
The Canadian Armed Forces were called in as reinforcements on Saturday. A team of SQ investigators was also dispatched to the scene.
On the sidelines of a press conference on the forest fires in Sept-Îles, Côte-Nord Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain wanted to offer her support to the residents of Portneuf-sur-Mer. “We are wholeheartedly with you,” she said.
“My sweetest thoughts accompany the Portneuvois and the people of the Haute-Côte-Nord in this tragedy, also wrote on Twitter the Bloc Québécois MP for Manicouagan, Marilène Gill. My mother’s heart is with you and my whole team is available. Love. »
“It is a drama on which it is difficult to put words”, lamented on Facebook André Desrosiers, mayor of Escoumins, about forty kilometers away. “My municipality will make sure to put everything in place so that people have psychological support. Our sweetest thoughts are with the families at this painful time. »