BARRIE, ONT. -- The search for a missing 21-year-old Scarborough woman who fell overboard on Lake Simcoe in Innisfil, Ont., while touring with friends has come to an end.
South Simcoe Police say the body of Kenane Tafese Teklemariam was recovered around 9 p.m. Friday by the OPP's underwater search and recovery unit.
Friends recount that the horrific scene of events started when Tafese wanted to get her feet wet.
"She wanted to hold a ladder and place her feet in the water, but she didn't know the wave was pretty strong," says the victim's friend, Feven Mengistu.
Her friends explained that Teklemariam wasn't wearing a life jacket when she fell in.
Mengistu describes how one of their friends jumped in after Teklemaria, but "the waves were too strong."
Mengistu explains that Teklemariam moved to Toronto 10 years ago from Ethiopia with her family and was preparing to graduate from York University's social work program.
The OPP's Underwater Search and Recovery Unit divers had been scouring the lake for the young woman as her family and friends kept a watchful eye from the dock.
Witnesses say the victim's loved ones were at the scene all Thursday night into Friday morning.
The extensive search began on Thursday around 3 p.m. at the Government Dock at the end of the 30th Sideroad but was called off six hours later when it got too dark and stormy weather moved in.
South Simcoe Police, Barrie police and the OPP went back out Friday morning combing the lake.
