The body of William Zhang, a Montreal Notre-Dame college student who was participating in a swimming camp in Florida, was found late Wednesday by police in Pinellas County, on the west coast of the state.
The 17-year-old was attending a swim camp with his team, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The swimmers were exercising in the Gulf of Mexico, but William Zhang “did not return to shore at the end of the exercises,” said the statement released late Wednesday evening.
Local authorities received an emergency 911 call around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning reporting that a swimmer had been swept offshore. A search was undertaken and “at approximately 5:23 p.m. [William] Zhang was located and pronounced dead.”
“We have deployed additional aid resources and are in close communication with local authorities in Tampa Bay to try to better understand what happened,” said the College’s director of communications, Anne Desaulniers, by email Thursday Morning.
The College’s priority “is to support people who are directly affected by this terrible event,” added Ms.me Desaulniers. “All our thoughts are with the parents of young William Zhang. »
The swimmer was not a member of the Quebec Swimming Federation, which regulates competitive swimming.