Body of missing French snowmobiler found in Canada

MONTREAL: Police announced Thursday they had identified a body as that of a French snowmobiler who went missing after his tour group crashed through an icy Canadian lake in January, with forensic analysis on another body presumed to be that of his companion set to be completed in coming days.

Both were dressed in snowmobile outfits, Hugues Beaulieu, spokesman for Quebec’s provincial police, told AFP.

One body was located near the site of the accident in northern Quebec on Wednesday, five days after the other was discovered further afield on the banks of a river feeding the lake.

Police confirmed the remains recovered on Friday were those of 25-year-old Arnaud Antoine.

The other body was likely that of Jean-Rene Dumoulin, 24. The forensic pathologist was expected to confirm the identity “in the next few days,” Beaulieu said.

Six snowmobilers had fallen into the icy waters of Lac SaintJean, near the mouth of the Grande Decharge River, after entering an off-limits area of thin ice.

Authorities launched a massive search following the January accident, but called it off weeks later due to extreme winter weather after recovering three out of five bodies.

The guide, a 42-year-old Canadian, died in a hospital after trying in vain to rescue his group.

Boaters found a body floating “approximately three kilometers from the accident” on Friday and then discovered the second ashore “more than 12 kilometers away,” said Beaulieu.

“We expected that with waters warming (after the spring thaw), it would be citizens who were going to come across the remains by chance,” he said.