It was around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when a young man came running to Carly Roome’s house in socks, a t-shirt and shorts. No coat. No phone. Dripping.
“He was shouting that he needed help because his friend had fallen through the ice,” says M.me Roome.
She immediately called the police. Then she and her parents spoke with the boy, who was “really shaken,” to get more details about what happened.
The boy had managed to get his sister out of the Rideau River, about 400 meters from M’s homeme Roome. But he worried about his two friends whom he had failed to save.
The quartet returned to near the Rideau River, providing more details to the 911 operator.
But on Thursday, the worst materialized.
In the morning, Ottawa police confirmed the death of a first young man and indicated that they were continuing their search to find the second. Unfortunately, authorities later confirmed that a second body had been found.
Emmah Palmer and Seleina Elata said their friend Ahmad Ahmad, 17, was the first to be found dead.
Mme Elata mentioned that she spoke to the young man’s mother after hearing the news.
“She was very upset,” she admitted, standing near the locks, where the girls said they had come to say goodbye to their friend.
“I couldn’t hold on and she couldn’t hold on. As soon as we got the call, it was just tears. »
Mme Elata added that his friend, who was proud to be of Iraqi origin, loved coming to the area because he found it peaceful.
Mme Palmer added that he is preparing to graduate and celebrate his 18th birthday next month.
“Honestly, it doesn’t make any sense. She was such a beautiful person. It is not fair. He was 17 years old. »
Difficult conditions
Emergency crews responded to a call about four teenagers who had fallen into the river from Nicolls Island Road at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Two of the teenagers were immediately pulled from the water and taken to hospital by paramedics, while two others, aged 16 and 17, were reported missing.
Police divers later found the body of one of them. The second was found Thursday.
Police admitted that the nighttime rescue operation during which divers recovered the first body took place in “very difficult conditions”.
The search to locate the second missing teenager was interrupted overnight and did not resume on Thursday morning. Just before 3 p.m., an underwater search and recovery unit arrived on scene and set up a tent near the river’s edge.
Three marked police vehicles were parked near the Rideau Canal locks on a rainy day Thursday morning, as warmer-than-average temperatures persist in Ottawa.
Yellow tape was wrapped around the locks near the river, where a thin layer of ice appeared to extend outward from the shore.
Police also cordoned off an area near the shore.
Asked for more details, a police spokesperson said he could not say more about the police operation still underway.
Other similar events across the country
This incident at the Rideau River came amid a series of similar events across the country.
RCMP in Alberta confirmed this week the death of three members of the same family after their all-terrain vehicle plunged through a thin layer of ice in the run-up to Christmas.
RCMP also said a man died after falling through ice near Calgary on Christmas Day.
In November, RCMP in Saskatchewan reported that two girls had fallen through the ice on a lake. One of them died, as did two men who tried to save them.
And in Quebec this week, the Sûreté du Québec declared that the search for a four-year-old girl who fell into the Mistassibi River, in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, was now considered a recovery operation rather than a mission safety.