Divers from the Quebec Provincial Police have recovered the body of a woman after the truck she was a passenger in fell through the ice into the Ottawa River about a kilometre off the shore of Aylmer Sunday afternoon.
Gatineau Police said divers recovered the body shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday.
Although police have not released the woman’s name pending identification of the body and notification of next of kin, the victim has been reported as Orleans resident Rachel Taylor, who was returning from a drive at around 2:45 p.m. with her boyfriend when the GMC truck they were driving in broke through the ice between Aylmer Island and the shore.
“The driver was able to get out,” said Gatineau Police Lt. Claude Vaillancourt.
Longtime snowmobiler and Aylmer resident Jason Meranger was heading back from a ride on his snowmobile at around 3 p.m. Sunday when he saw a group of people standing on the shore.
He assisted police by bringing cones and caution tape out to mark the area where the truck had gone through so nobody else would be hurt.
“You can’t drive there in a straight line,” he said of the river. “There are some pretty deadly spots.
“This is a real tragedy.”
The QPP divers, who were working on another assignment Sunday, joined Gatineau police in the search yesterday.
Just prior to the search, chief diver Sgt. André Aubry estimated the water in the search area to be between 19 and 29 feet deep.
“The river is always a dangerous place to go because there are currents,” said Vaillancourt.
