TORONTO SWIMMER, 76, DROWNS IN SPARROW LAKE TUESDAY AFTERNOON

SEVERN TOWNSHIP — A Toronto man is the latest drowning victim in the region.

Roland Jonker, 76, of Toronto died Tuesday afternoon after a swimming accident in Deep Bay in Sparrow Lake.

Provincial police say that just after 3 p.m. July 6 emergency services responded to an urgent call reporting a male who had failed to surface after swimming in Deep Bay, near a cottage in Severn Township, south west of Gravenhurst.

Witnesses were able to get him to shore and administer first aid until County of Simcoe Paramedic Services arrived and took over life-saving efforts.

However, Jonker was pronounced dead at the scene.

He is the fifth person to drown since June 27 when two young men died at the Port Sydney Rapid, followed July 2 by a man from Caledon in Arnolds Bay near MacTier and an 18-year-old Mississauga man who drowned while swimming near Santa’s Village in Bracbridge Saturday.