

Paul Johnston and Sandie Benitah, CP24.com





An elderly woman pulled from a car that plunged into the Credit River in Mississauga Monday afternoon has died, Peel police have confirmed.

It happened near Lakeshore Boulevard and Mississauga Road at around 4:15 p.m.

Emergency crews were called to the scene after witnesses reported seeing the vehicle crash into the water.

The woman who made the 911 call to authorities from an area restaurant told CP24 that customers and staff alike were left temporarily in shock by what they saw.

“People started realizing that there’s someone in the car,” Frances Kessler, who works at Snug Harbour restaurant, said. “And then people started jumping in the water.”

According to Kessler, some witnesses reported seeing the car reverse into the river.

At first, witnesses said they believed two people may have been in the car when it went in. Peel Regional Police, however, said there was no evidence to suggest there was anyone else in the vehicle at the time.

“Two people did go into the water, and they actually attempted to swim to the vehicle in an effort to try and help that person out of the vehicle,” Peel police Const. George Tudos told reporters at the scene.

“They were unsuccessful, due to the current that pulled that vehicle away from the shoreline.”

The bystanders were cold, but uninjured, officials said.

An Ornge air ambulance at the scene left without any patients onboard, a spokesperson confirmed.

Crews managed to attach the fully-submerged vehicle to a heavy tow truck and drag it ashore roughly an hour after in first went in.

The circumstances that led to the car being in the water were not immediately clear.

In a tweet sent out at around 10:30 p.m., Peel police confirmed that the woman had died.

Police continue to investigate.