Four Ontario people died and three are missing in a series of boating accidents during a cold and stormy Victoria Day weekend.
Rice Lake, Ont., is where the most serious incident took place. (CBC)
FROM MAY 21, 2006: 1 dead, 2 missing in Ontario boating accident
Three people died Sunday after their boat overturned on Rice Lake, about 120 kilometres northeast of Toronto. Their pleasure craft was carrying seven people when it was hit by high waves and overturned about 500 metres from shore, said Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Doug Borton.
Two men and two women, aged 17 to 59 years, swam to shore near Harwood, Ont., and were rescued. But three people drowned.
Dead are Holland Chow, 54, Duylunong Diep, 54, both of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Albert Chow, 51, of Stouffville, Ont.
There were enough life-jackets in the boat, but lakeside cottagers said they saw several passengers struggling to put their life-jackets on after the boat tipped over.
Search and rescue aircraft from the provincial police and nearby CFB Trenton were called out to find the missing people. They found the body of Holland Chow as dusk fell, and the other two people early Monday morning.
The accident occurred on a cold and windy day when winds of up to 70 km/h created dangerous conditions on the water, local residents said Sunday.
"There's a lot of waves out on the lake," Bonnie Simpson, co-owner of the Idle Hours Fishing Resort, said Sunday. "It's just a horrible day. Most of the cottagers have packed up and gone home because of the weather this weekend."
Rice Lake is a large and relatively shallow body of water that is popular with recreational boaters and fishermen.
Other water incidents
That was just the most serious of several accidents across the province.
Police were searching for Gail Hodgson, 54, who disappeared not far from her home in Bewdley, Ont., also on Rice Lake.
A 27-year-old man drowned late Sunday afternoon when he tried to swim from McCrae Provincial Park to nearby Strawberry Island in Lake Simcoe, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto.
Also on Lake Simcoe, three teenagers in a paddle boat were blown out from shore. One of them managed to call for help on his cellphone as the boat started to take on water.
Elsewhere, the search continued Monday for a canoeist missing near Thunder Bay, Ont. Two men failed to return after a short trip on Black Bay Sunday, but one of the canoeists was found in good condition shortly after an overturned boat was spotted Monday, officials said.
In southern Ontario, a man is presumed drowned after a canoeing accident northeast of Madoc. The man's canoe overturned in Wolf Lake and he wasn't wearing a life-jacket, police said.
"We're always concerned this time of year because traditionally, on the long weekends, that's when people want to get out there and they go to cottages and camping," OPP Const. Dana Mellon told Canadian Press on Monday.
"Normally, you get out in the spring, the sun's shining, the air is warm, but unfortunately the water is still very, very cold.