Two canoeists rescued from the Ottawa River near Quyon

Two canoeists rescued from the Ottawa River near Quyon

At around 6:45 p.m. last night (May 8), MRC des Collines Police received two 911 calls from the same cell phone. According to a press release the police issued May 9, the reception was poor and the operator wasn’t able to determine exactly what was going on except that two people were in the water near Quyon.

Firefighters from the Municipalities of Pontiac and La Pêche were mobilized to commence a search. At around 9:15 p.m., a citizen notified the police that his friend had rescued a man and a woman whose canoe had capsized in the Ottawa River near chemin Dion, and police were able to confirm that they were the ones who had made the original 911 calls. Police said the reason for the poor reception was due to the fact that the phone was submerged when the pair went in the water.

The couple were from Ottawa and were in their early 20s. Both were wearing life jackets when their canoe capsized and were not injured. They spent about 15 minutes in the water before a good Samaritan heard their cries of distress from a nearby residence and came to their aid.