{"id":566168,"date":"2026-03-28T08:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T08:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566168\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T08:28:28","slug":"search-resumes-for-man-who-fell-through-ice-in-ste-genevieve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566168\/","title":{"rendered":"Search resumes for man who fell through ice in Ste-Genevi\u00e8ve"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Montreal police nautical patrol and a drone were deployed Friday morning to resume the search for a man who fell through the ice<\/a> on Rivi\u00e8re des Prairies by the city\u2019s West Island on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The search began following a 911 call at 2:35 p.m. on Thursday reporting two people in distress in the water near the Jacques-Bizard Bridge in the Ste-Genevi\u00e8ve district of the city. One of the men was rescued and taken to hospital and is considered out of danger, while the other remains missing.<\/p>\n

A police boat with four officers onboard was combing the shoreline at the edge of the ice where the men fell in on Friday morning. Footprints were visible in the snow on the ice.<\/p>\n

In addition to searching the shore and the river at the site of the incident, police are also searching downstream, while a drone is conducting an aerial search. Police considered using divers, but a risk assessment found it wouldn\u2019t be safe for them in the water, SPVM spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current is quite strong, and there are ice floes that could break off and carry off the divers if they go in with the current,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of that makes it a bit too dangerous for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two boats on the water in addition to officers on foot along the banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have officers much farther east carrying out searches with equipment \u2026 looking in case we spot a piece of clothing or something that might give us some indication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brabant said the search efforts will continue until dark.<\/p>\n

A woman who lives in a building beside the site of the incident, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she saw a person being pulled out of the water on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really know what was going on before we saw the ambulance with the stretcher,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then they brought a man out and put him in the ambulance. I don\u2019t know if he was seriously hurt or not, but they sure took a long time to leave. The paramedics (were) walking around. He was on a stretcher all covered up in the back. And then I guess there is someone else missing, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who is still missing is a student of the nearby CEGEP G\u00e9rald-Godin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are monitoring the situation closely with the authorities,\u201d the school said in a statement on its website. \u201cMeasures are being deployed to support our student and staff communities. Our hearts go out to the affected families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montreal
\n Montreal police look for a man who fell through the ice of the Rivi\u00e8re des Prairies on Friday, March 27, 2026. Allen McInnis \/Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

Nearby Salle Pauline-Julien cancelled a benefit show planned for Friday evening because of the incident.<\/p>\n

The neighbour also said a person fell through the ice a week earlier while trying to rescue a dog who had fallen in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went out to get the dog,\u201d she said. \u201cHe fell in and he hurt his knee climbing out on the ice, but he got out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another neighbour who has lived by the site of the incident for 17 years, Ernest Wright, said he came home Thursday as the search was underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust coming up the street, I saw one of the fire trucks was here and the small unit with the boat trailer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wright said he doesn\u2019t typically see people venturing far onto the ice in the area, though they sometimes do on the part closest to the shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven I myself will walk the dog on this part right here,\u201d said Wright, gesturing to the shore. \u201cNot when (the water is) this close, but I mean, usually it\u2019s much more frozen over than it is (now).\u201d<\/p>\n

The current seemed to be moving quickly Friday. Wright described it as \u201cpretty fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s terrible, really,\u201d he said of the missing man.<\/p>\n

Police said there seems to be no criminal element involved in Thursday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Montreal police nautical patrol and a drone were deployed Friday morning to resume the search for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-566168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}