Deadly long weekend with at least 5 drownings

Police recovered the body of a 30-year-old Oshawa man who drowned in a Peterborough lake — one of five deaths in Ontario’s waterways over the long weekend.

The body of Charles Urqhart was pulled out of Peterborough’s Little Lake on Sunday night and was scheduled to be taken to Toronto for an autopsy.

Police say the man disappeared while swimming in the lake near the Peterborough Art Gallery.

A 27-year-old Toronto man drowned in the Welland River in Niagara Falls. Police were called to the Portage Road and Front Street area just after 6:30 p.m. Sunday after passersby noticed the man struggling in the water. The man’s body was removed from the river a short time later.

Police said the victim, whose name hasn’t been released, was in Niagara Falls for Canada Day celebrations.

Another 27-year-old man drowned in Lake Huron at Grand Bend around the same time on Sunday. The man reportedly disappeared under the water off the main beach. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The body of a 79-year-old man was pulled out of Lake Huron in Saugeen Shores on Saturday. His name hasn’t been released.

And a body was pulled from the Ottawa River on Monday in a spot near the Deschenes Rapids where two men are believed to have drowned on Saturday.

The men, ages 21 and 26, were spotted going into the water Saturday night, when they ran into trouble. A passerby tried to save them but had to swim back to shore for his own safety.

Police believe alcohol may be a factor in the case.

Meanwhile, police are searching for any signs of a missing 19-year-old man who fell into Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines on Sunday.

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