Report of missing swimmer at Montreal’s Cap-Saint-Jacques beach may have been ‘unfounded’: police

Montreal police are still searching the waters of Cap-Saint-Jacques beach Wednesday morning, but authorities believe the report of a missing swimmer was “unfounded.”

The SPVM tells CityNews Tuesday evening’s 911 call about a person in distress in the water came from someone who may have simply thought they saw something in the water.

But police say they have not heard from anyone’s family about a missing person, leading them to believe the report was unfounded.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure that there was really someone missing or experiencing difficulty in the water,” said SPVM spokesperson Julien Lévesque.

Police were still on the scene of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough late Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon, they were continuing a search for a report of a person in the sector that was “in difficulty.”

The beach was closed as of Tuesday evening for the search operation. Police officers, firefighters, and the Canadian Coast Guard were deployed on site to search the water and shoreline.

The water search was suspended overnight, but land searches continued.

Coteau-du-Lac

Meanwhile, since Sunday afternoon, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) from Coteau-du-Lac, about 55 kilometres west of Montreal, have been searching for a diver who went missing in the St. Lawrence River.

According to the SQ, the person was diving or swimming in the waters of the St. Lawrence River, near the Monseigneur-Langlois Bridge, when he encountered problems.

“It was citizens who called us who saw someone who seemed in distress,” SQ media relations officer, Louis-Philippe Ruel, told CityNews on Wednesday morning. “Since then, there have been searches have been conducted.”

A helicopter, boats, drones and divers were deployed to try to find the person.

As of Wednesday morning, the search continues.