Emergency crews have recovered the bodies of two missing canoeists from Eagle Lake.
Provincial police say search and rescue crews made the discovery on the Haliburton Highland lake on Tuesday afternoon.
“We located the parties approximately 25 minutes into our dive. Both parties were approximately 15 feet apart in approximately 25 feet of water,” says Gravenhurst OPP Const. Denis Hotte.
Police have identified the victims as 24 year-old Kajan Kalapahan and 21 year-old Lingavijithan Kirupanayagam, both from Toronto.
According to the OPP, six people went out onto the lake on Monday, at around 5 p.m. Four people were in canoes, while the other pair was in a kayak.
Both canoes capsized at the same time, but only two of the four made it out.
Police say neither of the men were wearing life-jackets.
“You go in this time of year without a life jacket ah your chances of survival are minimal,” Hotte says.
This is the third fatal boating incident this month.
On April 4, three people were out in a canoe on Pigeon Lake trying to retrieve a pedal boat when the vessel capsized. The bodies of a 28-year-old Halton Hills woman and a 23-year-old Scarborough man were later recovered from the water.
On Sunday, the body of a Richmond Hill man was pulled from Georgian Bay after the boat he was in capsized, near Hailstone Island. Two other men were able to make it back to shore.
In both cases, the OPP say life-jackets were not worn.
Officials are stressing the importance of wearing life-jackets and are reminding people that while spring is here, the water temperature is still very cold.
