Body of Algonquin student, 23, found in Gatineau River
TOM SPEARS AND PATRICK SMITH
Police have confirmed that they found the body of a 23-year-old Algonquin College student in the Gatineau River in Wakefield Friday night, near where he was last seen Thursday evening.
The Zimbabwean man and three friends had arrived at the river downstream from the red covered bridge at Wakefield at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. He was pulled away by the river current and disappeared about 7:30 p.m.
Police were not releasing the man’s name, but his family has been notified.
“What we know from the investigation is that he was not a good swimmer,” said MRC des Collines Const. Martin Fournel. “Maybe in a pool, but in a river it’s totally different.”
“The investigation is showing that there was alcohol involved,” he said. Police don’t know how much he’d had to drink, “but that didn’t help, probably.”
Also, the water level had risen and the current had been running faster in recent days, Fournel said, likely because the dam upstream in the municipality of Low had been letting more water through.
Fournel said the spot used to be a popular swimming area for locals, but others are now discovering it.
“With time, with social media, more people are coming over here,” he said.
“People are gathering here from as far as Toronto, Montreal, Gatineau and Ottawa,” and locals don’t go there as much “because there are so many people.
“Lots of extreme activity going on and lots of alcohol, too.”
Last weekend, there were 200 to 300 people and they ran out of room to park, he said. “The main attraction is jumping from the bridge, which is illegal, but lots of people are coming.”
The man whose body was found, though, didn’t jump from the bridge.
MRC and Sûreté du Québec officers, and a volunteer diver from the Ottawa police, searched late into the night Thursday before calling off the search at 10:30 p.m. Divers resumed the search Friday.