Drownings in Ontario - Statistics 2011

#24. Student missing after plunge into Niagara Falls

Surveillance footage from the nearby visitors’ centre shows that around 8:30 p.m., one of the women climbed over the railing while holding an umbrella and sat on a block pillar with her legs straddling the rail. Police say water in this area is extremely fast-moving; the woman is presumed to have drowned. No foul play is suspected.

During the search Monday, at 8:10 a.m., the Erie County Sheriff’s department located the remains of an unidentified male in the lower the Niagara River whirlpool. Both police and the coroner are investigating, but officials said the body is not likely to be related to the young woman’s fall.

#23. Popular Carleton Place businessman struck, killed by boat while swimming

Snelling, 67, was swimming near his residence at Wolfe Lake, located eight kilometres west of Westport in the Township of Rideau Lakes, when he was struck by a passing boat operated by a family who police says were water skiing at the time.


OPP says the boat with an inboard engine, being used by an Ottawa family who were staying at their cottage just a few doors away from Snelling's lakeside residence, struck the man as he was swimming. The operator told police the victim was not visible at the time of the mishap.

Interesting that the reporter calls this a 'mishap', and the police do not lay charges.
It seems to me that boat operators ought to be aware of neighbours swimming. How can they say he wasn't visible? Perhaps they didn't look for him. I have photos and video (below) of people who spotted loons while on a fast boat. People, slow down. This 2010 May 2-4 w/e, as well as my boating videos, demonstrate the lack of awareness of people around them.

As of Friday, August 5th, 61 people have drowned in Ontario since May 1, according to Barbara Byers of the Lifesaving Society. Eighteen others have drowned from boating-related incidents this summer. None wore a life-jacket.

Victim voiced fears about tubing

Calgary Herald
By Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald August 7, 2011 10:00 PM 
Pacifique Mangapi joined ... who is presumed drowned after a boating accident the day before.


Another horrible incident. Why would so-called friends not insist on a lifejacket? It is not called an accident, as this is murder. He could not swim. He told his girlfriend he was afraid of the water. He went tubing and drowned.

#22. Woman Found Dead in Echo Lake

Huntsville OPP report that on Monday, just after 8:30 a.m., a neighbour found the body of  55-year-old Kathryn Charteris of Milton, who had been visiting her family cottage and was in the process of renovating it.
Police and paramedics went to Lawson Road in Baysville. Sometime during the late evening hours of July 31st and the early morning hours of Monday, she had gone for a swim and didn't return to the cottage.  No foul play is suspected.

#21. Deceased identified in boating collision

Toronto man, 22, killed on Lake of Bays

Staff Sgt. Mike Frew of the Huntsville OPP said that 22-year-old Matthew Ludlow of Toronto was killed after the boat in which he was a passenger collided with Pancake Island at 3:15 a.m. on July 10.
There were four people in the boat. The driver, 23-year-old Colin Eadie, has been charged with operating a vessel while drunk, and dangerous operation of a vessel causing death.

#17, 18, 19, 20 Four Drown in three separate Quebec incidents

• Two young brothers died in a river near Normandin, north of Lac St–Jean, Friday, July 22. Police say the 6–year–old and 8–year–old were with their family on vacation. They said all six members of the family were out on a sandbank in the middle of the Ashapmushuan River when the parents were distracted; Mom was saving Dad who fell in. The kids lost their lives slipping into the river.
• A 22-year-old man drowned near Aylmer, close to the Ontario border.
• Paramedics said a group of young people went for a swim in an abandoned quarry in the area Friday afternoon. The man who drowned swam into deep water but could not get back to shore.



Normandin, Quebec

• A fourth man, a 25–year–old Montrealer who was fishing near Mont–Laurier in the Lièvre River, was reported missing on Wednesday. Quebec provincial police divers found his body Friday.

#16. Vancouver boy, 11, drowns near Lacamas Lake
 - ‎Jul 19, 2011‎

The area where Tuesday's drowning happened is no stranger to tragedy, residents who live near Lacamas Lake said. Doug Espinosa, 19, of Camas has spent summer days at the Potholes since he was 
old enough to swim. As he looked across the street at fire ...

#15. Mourning teen who drowned: Young girl remembered as polite, helpful

Police divers recovered 13-year-old Uche Chuks’ body early Wednesday morning, hours after she disappeared when she jumped into Lake Ontario from a Hamilton dock. A non-swimmer, the article states that the water was choppy, the wind blew, and the bottom drops off fairly quickly.

#13. #14. Teen girls found dead in lake after outing

Toronto News: Father of drowned teen can't bear to look at 'lake

 of death'

• 
  Sabrina Alibhai, left, is shown with her best friend Gift Diji. The pair drowned in Musselman's Lake on July 19. Two teenage girls (age 15 and 16 years old) are dead after drowning on Musselman Lake, 60 km north of Toronto, on Tuesday night, July 19. They were swimming near their rubber dingy, about 100m off shore. York Regional Police spokeswoman Rebecca Boyd said police and emergency personnel were called.
  
  
  

  Around 8 p.m., Gift fell into the water after waves from a passing speedboat rocked their small raft, Alibhai said. His daughter jumped in to help.

  Kyle Jenkins was on his dock when he noticed the pair struggling and heard Sabrina yell to Gift, “Let go of me, you’re pulling me under!”

  Jenkins lowered his boat into the water, which takes 20 to 30 seconds, “and in that 20 or 30 seconds I watched two kids die.”

12. SECOND DROWNING REPORTED IN SEGUIN TWP. 
July 4, 2011 A Pickering man is dead after drowning Sunday morning in Sequin Twp. OPP were called after 3 a.m. when a row boat overturned and threw the occupants into the water. All made it to shore, with the exception of one man. A group of eight people  took a 16-foot aluminum boat onto the water early Sunday morning. Not far from shore they lost one of the oars. A man jumped in to get it causing the boat to list, tossing everyone else into the water. Three managed to stay with the boat, just four were able to swim to shore.

None of the occupants of the boat were wearing pfd’s. Alcohol and no life jackets are the reasons for this incident.

West Parry Sound OPP Marine Unit along with Sequin Fire responded and did a shore line and water search to no avail. The search was delayed until light, when the body of Anusanthan Nadarajah, 30, was found 4.5 metres below the surface.

11. Canada Day drowning victim's body recovered  

The body of one of two men who went missing during a Canada Day boating incident in Ontario's cottage country has been found, police said on Monday.

Durham Regional Police say the body was discovered and removed from Lake Scugog late Sunday night after a two day search. The men's boat collided with another watercraft about 200 metres east of Scugog Island's north shore.

9. & 10. Weekend accidents kill 13 in Quebec

There were also two drownings. A two-year-old boy drowned Saturday in a reservoir just outside his family's home in the Outaouais region. On Friday, an 18-month-old girl drowned in the Lake of Two Mountains in Pointe-Calumet, in the Laurentians.

8. A 7-year old boy has been airlifted to Sick Kids in Toronto. He is in extremely critical condition after nearly drowning in Lake Muskoka. Just after 3:30pm Sunday, Bracebridge OPP was called to Muskoka Beach. A group of four youths had entered the water, three made it back safely after experiencing some difficulty in the deep water. The fourth boy was found with the help of emergency services and bystanders. He was found in 10 to 15 feet of water near the mouth of the Hoc Roc River. The boy remains in extremely critical condition in Bracebridge Hospital. The police investigation continues.

6. & 7. BOAT SAFETY: Provincial police have confirmed that two people who drowned in a boating accident on the St. Lawrence River last Friday were "not" wearing life jackets.

June 27, 2011

OPP CONFIRMED two people who drowned in a boating incident were NOT wearing life jackets. On the St. Lawrence River, you'd think it would be wise to do so.
One man fell out of a fishing boat, the other died trying to rescue him, both from Toronto.

THERE HAVE BEEN 7 WATER-RELATED DEATHS IN ONTARIO IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS.

5. OPP confirm a Gravenhurst man is dead after cliff diving into Lake Muskoka 
Cliff diving incident sends one man to hospital with life threatening injuries this afternoon 

A Gravenhurst man is dead after a cliff diving accident. Bracebridge OPP was called to the scene at about 4:30pm Sunday after the man had dove from a 50-foot high cliff into Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst. The man misjudged the distance to the water and struck rock structure before hitting the water. Nearby witnesses got the man out of the water and began CPR. He was taken to a waiting ambulance at Muskoka Wharf. 49-year old Mark Houle of Gravenhurst is deceased. The OPP continue the investigation.

4. A Mississauga woman is dead after drowning in Sucker Lake in Seguin Township. West Parry Sound OPP says the woman was swimming a short distance away from her dock Friday evening when she ran into trouble in the water. Witnesses tried to help her but couldn’t. A search by OPP was called off late Friday night. The body of 22-year old Nadia Nerissa Dennie was found by OPP on Saturday morning a short distance away from where she was last seen. A post mortem is being done Sunday.

3. A man is dead after trying to swim across the Muskoka River. Bracebridge OPP and emergency services personnel responded to the report of a possible drowning near High Falls on the Muskoka River today. Police say the man tried to swim across the river when he ran into difficulty. Several onlookers tried to rescue him. The victim was located by police divers about 90 minutes later. The victim has been identified as 21-year old Rich Trespeces of Maple, Ontario.

2. As a child drowned, the fun went on at Quebec water park

‎
Globe and Mail - Ingrid Peritz - 23 Jun 2011

Playing in a wave pool at a park north of Montreal, Jeremy Mulumba was swept by surging water toward the deep end. A classmate grabbed his shoulder and Jeremy in turn tried to grip his friend’s hand, before a second wave pushed Jeremy down below the water’s surface.

He died in hospital, having been underwater for more than an hour.

1. OPP issue statement about drowning near Athens

19 Jun 2011
... announcement from the Ontario Provincial Police: The Leeds County detachment of the OPP are investigating a swimming accident that occurred on the 18th.

From NYTimes, July 27, 1895

A report by the Lifesaving Society said drownings rose in last year, ... but we can take measures to prevent deaths like this. ...

QUICK FACTS: Over the 2010 Canada Day long weekend, 16 deaths occurred in OPP-policed areas (12 people died in motor vehicle collisions, two in boating incidents and two others in ATV incidents). 

The review finds that fully 96% - or all but one of 23 – of boaters who drowned were not wearing lifejackets or personal flotation devices.

In addition, a third of drowning victims were born outside of Canada and 40% were non-swimmers.