Montreal police searching for possible drowning victim at Verdun Beach

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 16, 2025 7:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Montreal constabulary are searching for a 32-year-old man who whitethorn person drowned astatine the Verdun Beach.

Montreal constabulary spokesperson Caroline Chèvrefils says respective calls were made to 911 astatine astir 6:40 p.m. connected Tuesday to study a man in distress successful the St. Lawrence River adjacent the crossing of Gaétan Laberge Boulevard and Hickson Street successful the Verdun borough.

Early reports suggest the antheral whitethorn person felt unwell portion swimming.

Police and the occurrence department's nautical patrol began searching the country connected Tuesday but were not capable to find the swimmer, according to Chèvrefils.

She said constabulary met with witnesses. Divers from the tactical involution radical and the nautical patrol are expected to proceed the cognition Wednesday morning. 

'You shouldn't task into the river,' Verdun politician says

In June, 2 radical died astatine the fashionable swimming spot.

On Wednesday morning, Verdun borough politician Marie-Andrée Mauger urged residents to bounds their swimming during the beach's opening hours — which are each time betwixt 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. — erstwhile lifeguards are watching implicit the area.

"[The river] remains a precise almighty constituent of nature. It's not ever disposable connected the aboveground however beardown the currents are," Mauger told Radio-Canada.

"It doesn't substance whether you're a bully swimmer oregon not, you shouldn't task into the river."

Mauger said the borough improved ocular signs to bespeak areas wherever swimming is prohibited and barriers person been added connected some sides of the Verdun Beach.