2023-05-04 02:14:06
Quebec relief is in mourning. Police in this province of Canada announced on Wednesday that they had found two bodies in the search area where two firefighters disappeared, swept away by the waves during a flood-related rescue operation this week.
The two volunteer firefighters, Christopher Lavoie, 23, and Régis Lavoie, 55, who are not related, were helping to evacuate residents near Baie-Saint-Paul, about 100 kilometers north of the Quebec City, when they disappeared on Monday afternoon.
The Prime Minister of Quebec on the spot
Shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday, a helicopter “located a body,” said Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Sergeant Stéphane Tremblay. “We do not have formal identification yet (…) but everything indicates that it is one of the two people who have been missing since Monday,” he explained.
Later in the day, the Sûreté du Québec announced that they had found a second body, about 500 meters from where the first was found. “Around 1:30 p.m., there is a second body which was also located by the Sûreté du Québec helicopter,” said Sergeant Béatrice Dorsainville. “We lost two men, two volunteer firefighters. It is immensely sad, ”reacted Quebec Premier François Legault, on Facebook, after going there.
Torrential rains following spring snowmelt triggered emergency flood alerts across the province this week. In total, 105 municipalities have deployed emergency measures and more than 600 residences have been affected or flooded, according to the latest update of the website of the Ministry of Public Security.
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