WOMAN DROWNS SWIMMING FROM BOAT IN GRAVENHURST SUNDAY.

GRAVENHURST — A second person has drowned in Gravenhurst this summer, after a group of friends were swimming from a boat on the Trent-Severn waterway near Morrison Landing, south of town Sunday afternoon near Sparrow Lake.

Provincial police from the Orillia detachment, with the assistance of the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (USRU), have recovered the body of a female who was swimming with friends and failed to surface.

They say that on July 13, 2019, at 3:45 p.m., the friends began a frantic search and were assisted by numerous by-standers while emergency services were called, after the swimmer became lost.

Members of the USRU and the Orillia OPP Marine Unit responded and began a formal search of the waters until dark, at which time the search was suspended.  Efforts resumed the following morning and at 13:04 p.m., the body of the missing swimmer was recovered.

Police have identified the deceased as Kathy Venneman, 53, of Erin.

Earlier, a man drowned while at the Muskoka Beach on Lake Muskoka.

The body of a 53-year-old woman was recovered by police divers in Gravenhurst, after a swimming accident Sunday.