CORNWALL – A large-scale water search was conducted on the St. Lawrence River after a report a man had jumped into the water Sunday morning.
In the end, the report turned out to be false.
Emergency responders were called around 9:30 a.m. to the shoreline behind the CBSA headquarters on Water Street in Cornwall.
Cornwall Fire Services set up their command center at the dock behind the RCAF Wing.
“We’re searching for a possible individual in the water. We’ve got Hogansburg (Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department), OPP and Akwesasne Mohawk Police and we’re assisting Cornwall police in their operation,” Acting Platoon Chief Bryan Ward tells Cornwall Newswatch.
He says they are doing a search of the river from Gray’s Creek to the Seaway International Bridge.
“We’ve been able to do face-to-face meetings now with both Hogansburg fire department and the OPP so we’ve come up with a coordinated search of the river and we’re going to continue with that until we learn more information from Cornwall police or come up with something confirmed,” Ward says.
Given the strength of the current if someone jumped in the water, Ward says the Cornwall Fire Service boat is searching the shoreline of the city from Gray’s Creek, while Hogansburg is searching the Akwesasne south shore and OPP are searching the river along with Hogansburg.
The search was called off just before noon without finding anything.
“The investigation turned out or confirmed that no one had in fact entered the water at that time and that’s why the searches were completed,” Cornwall Police Acting Sgt. Martin Depratto tells CNW.
Depratto says their patrol units also checked the shoreline area as part of the investigation in conjunction with the partner agencies on the water.