The body of a child under the age of five was recovered Sunday, the day after a boating tragedy in the Baskatong reservoir in Quebec’s Laurentians.
Few details of the event, which occurred on Saturday evening at around 6:15 p.m., have been released, so as not to prejudice the ongoing investigation.
The event involved a single boat in the reservoir around 285 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
“According to preliminary information, one person suffered serious injuries as a result of the incident, and Sûreté du Québec divers and a water patrol responded to the scene,” said Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesperson Sergeant Ève Brochu-Joubert. “It was during the night that divers fished out the missing person. The victim is a child under the age of 5. Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead on the spot.”
The initial call to Antoine-Labelle MRC emergency services and patrol officers concerned a response to “a boating incident”.
The SQ water patrol and divers were immediately deployed to find the missing child.
Investigators from the SQ’s Major Crimes Division and reconstructionists were also dispatched to the scene to determine the causes and circumstances leading to the child’s death.
The SQ investigation continues.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 2, 2024.