Body found in Lake Ontario identified as Toronto man who was swept into Niagara River: police
A body found in Lake Ontario last week has been identified as a 27-year-old Toronto man, Niagara police say, who was missing for days after wading into the Niagara River.
A large-scale search had been launched for the man who investigators say entered an area of the Niagara river with "significant currents" on Aug. 1.
A 22-year-old woman, also from Toronto, was pulled from the water that day in critical condition, said police. She was pronounced dead in hospital.
Police say the pair was part of a group of friends from the GTA who had gone for a hike in the Niagara Gorge. The woman began to struggle in the current and the man tried to help her, that's when he was swept away and disappeared, according to investigators.
The Niagara police marine unit and the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard searched the waters, along with a jet boat and a helicopter.
Then, around 5:49 p.m. on August 5, Niagara police say officers received a 911 call from someone on a fishing boat who reported finding a body in Lake Ontario.
It was located roughly 10 kilometres north of Niagara-on-the-Lake between the Welland Canal and Niagara River, said police.
The body was sent to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto where a postmortem was carried out and the man was identified.
"Detectives have found no evidence to support foul play in the drowning deaths of the 22-year-old woman and the 27-year-old man," police said in a media release.
The names of the man and woman have not been released.
