(Montreal) A man who was swimming in the St. Lawrence River in the Old Port area of Montreal may have drowned. He has been missing since Friday afternoon and a search is underway to find him.
Posted at 6:52 p.m.
A call was made to 9-1-1 around 3:35 p.m. concerning a person in distress in the waters of the St. Lawrence River near Pierre-Dupuy Avenue and the Pont de la Concorde.
According to the first information collected from witnesses, an elderly man in his thirties was swimming in the waters of the river before he drifted and called for help. He did not appear to be wearing a flotation device.
This sector of Montreal is particularly popular with people who go windsurfing on the river. Witnesses reportedly saw the man being swept away by the current, waving for help. He would have sunk under water.
The man may have drowned, said the spokesperson for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Marianne Allaire-Morin, but at 6 p.m. the victim had still not been located “due to the fort current” present in the St. Lawrence River.
The search is continuing to find the man. The SPVM’s nautical squad participates in searches with the Montreal Fire Department and the Coast Guard. The Sûreté du Québec also deployed a helicopter.