A 23-year-old man from Brampton has died after a PWC incident on the Indian River in Muskoka Lakes Township, Ont.
On June 1 at 6 p.m., Bracebridge Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Muskoka EMS, and the Muskoka Lakes Fire Department were called to an address on Bailey Street in Port Carling, near Mirror Lake.
According to police, the young man was thrown from his PWC while performing a maneuver and failed to resurface. Witnesses immediately began a search and brought the man to shore, but he unfortunately passed away at the scene.
Police say that the man had been out on the PWC—a rental—for some time when the incident occurred. While Transport Canada mandates that boat and pleasure craft rental companies provide renters with a safety checklist, renters are not required to have a boating license.
Const. Samantha Bigley with the Bracebridge OPP, is reminding the public to keep water safety in mind as more people get out on the water this season.
“You can’t be too careful,” she says. “In the unlikely event that something should happen, lifejackets and personal flotation devices really do make a difference.”
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