LAKE ROSSEAU BOATING ACCIDENT FRIDAY NIGHT HAS POLICE DIVERS ASSISTING IN SEARCH FOR TWO PEOPLE INCLUDING VESSEL’S OCCUPANTS
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
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MUSKOKA LAKES TOWNSHIP — A boating accident on Lake Rosseau late last night has police searching for two victims on board who have been missing overnight.
OPP divers are on the scene Saturday to assist with search efforts.
Police said early this afternoon that they were called July 31, at about 10:40 p.m., for reports of a boating collision near Backenrig Bay.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene where they found a severely damaged vessel resting on a rock ledge.
They say two individuals believed to have been aboard were missing.
Extensive search efforts were immediately initiated; however, neither individual was located at the scene or in the surrounding area.
The OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (USRU) was deployed and is assisting with search efforts on the water.
‘Heard crash, called police’
A check around the lake and there was a report this morning at the Windermere Bay Marina, further north on the Lake Rosseau, in which a boater said earlier today that they had “heard a crash nearby.”
Sherry Lawrie, who works at the marina, said there are “lots of people calling about it.”
An unidentified man on a personal watercraft was “surprised they didn’t know more.”
He told one of her young workers that they “heard a loud crash” and called police, she told MuskokaTODAY.com in phone call.
Bu no one seems to know the exact location of the accident, she added.
Lawrie thinks it was quite close to their Marina on Paton Bay, “right around the bend from us.
“Apparently the people who called the police, one of them came in early this morning and said they had been outside at their fire pit on the island, probably Tobin. And they saw the boat go by. And then they heard a loud crash. So they they called the police right away. But they didn’t go out looking.
“Then the helicopters came in (last night). And that’s the extent of the knowledge. Nobody knows anything. They’ve been checking the news, talking to everybody and nobody has a clue.
“So no news is good news, I guess.”
She said “the ambulance has been here,” but “no police or anybody investigating. Cause they didn’t come in here.
“Apparently it’s right around the bend from us. If I’m looking out at the water it’s on my left hand side.
“I don’t know where it might have happened. We’re just watching and asking people as they go by.”We’re not getting a lot of information. But we will have a lot more questions now.”
Lawrie said “No activity. But it was eerily quiet on the lake this morning. We were looking at each other and thinking where is everybody. The lake looked pretty empty. There weren’t a lot of boats out there.”
But as of 2 p.m. this afternoon it had gotten busier. “They seem to be out now.”
She said sent a worker out on his Seadoo while speaking to MuskokaTODAY.com, to see if there was any investigative activity on the lake. She called back shortly after to say he didn’t see anything.
“There’s nothing out on the water,” Lawrie said.
Police say their investigation remains ongoing as emergency responders work to determine the circumstances surrounding the collision and locate the vessel’s occupants.
Search efforts are also continuing today with assistance from specialized OPP resources. Members of the public are asked to avoid the area and allow emergency responders to safely and thoroughly conduct their search operations.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Bracebridge OPP at 1-888-310-1122. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit information online at ontariocrimestoppers.ca.
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