Family identifies boater missing in St. Lawrence River

Family identifies boater missing in St. Lawrence River

Police resumed their search Thursday for a man believed to have fallen into the St. Lawrence River after a speedboat hit a docked cargo ship in the Port of Montreal earlier this week.

The family of Jean-François Geoffrion have indicated on Facebook that he is likely the missing boater. Geoffrion's partner wrote in a post that the collision was accidental.

No body has yet been found and police won't confirm the identity of the person they're looking for. But debris and a life jacket turned up during an intensive search Wednesday led by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Montreal police divers returned to that spot on Thursday.

A witness told police he thought he saw one or two people fall from the speedboat into the water when it struck the ship Tuesday night.

The front of the boat was heavily damaged in the crash and the vessel sank.

Armed forces personnel and provincial police were also involved in the search, which initially covered an area as far as Varennes to the east of Montreal.