A coroner will investigate the death of a teenager after rescue officials retrieved the body of an 18-year-old kayaker from the waters off Centennial Park in Beaconsfield late Thursday.

First responders from several agencies combed the area of Lac Saint-Louis Thursday afternoon before finding the man’s body sometime after 7 p.m.

Several onlookers, including family members, were at the site as a recovery team worked to pull him from the waters.

"Witnesses saw him fall into the water, called 9-1-1. We arrived on the scene, there was nobody to be found. The only thing we found was the kayak which was on the rocks," said Bobby Lagacé of the Montreal fire department.

One woman described seeing the teenager around 3 p.m. He was struggling in the water with his arms flailing, calling for help.

“I just saw a poor guy in distress, flailing his hands,” she said. “He was asking for help. I was too far to get to him. At one point he was bobbing, and then we didn’t see his head and I was expecting him to come back up but he didn’t.”

The woman, who preferred not to give her name, said she tried to rescue the young man.

“I jumped in the boat at that point to try to find him, but the water was so murky, I couldn’t see anything. It’s tragic. Totally tragic.”

“It happened so fast,” she added, saying she didn’t recall seeing him wearing a lifejacket.

Officials said they discovered the kayaker’s lifejacket floating in the water earlier during the search operation.

The man rented the kayak from a new city-operated business that offers paddleboats and kayaks.

The city of Beaconsfield suspended rentals on Thursday and will resume operations on Saturday morning.

Four emergency response boats searched the area: two fire department boats, one coast guard boat and a Montreal police boat equipped with an underwater camera.

The drowning comes in the wake of another incident in Lac Saint-Louis this week that left two fishermen in their 30s dead. Their bodies were found near the Beauharnois dam.

More than 32 people have drowned in Quebec this year.

The Quebec Lifesaving Society is urging boaters to wear their lifejackets at all times aboard watercraft.



People in the Centennial Park area said it's not uncommon for boaters, kayakers or even people on paddleboards to remove their lifejackets once they're on the water, especially on hot days.

The Quebec lifesaving society repeatedly warns it's not a good idea.

“You know… why all the boaters don't want to wear it? Because they don't think they're going to fall overboard,” said Raynald Hawkins of the Quebec Lifesaving Society, adding that he wants the federal government to make it mandatory for boaters to wear lifejackets.

“You bring it, wear it,” he said.