A helicopter carrying provincial police officers from the Surete du Quebec searches an area for five missing French snowmobilers off Beemer Island on Lac-St-Jean, near St-Henri-de-Taillon, Quebec, Canada January 22, 2020. Surete du Quebec/Handout via REUTERS.
January 22, 2020
By Denise Paglinawan
TORONTO (Reuters) – A tour guide died and five French tourists were missing after a group of snowmobilers plunged through the ice into the water near Québec’s Lac-Saint-Jean Tuesday night, police said.
Eight French snowmobilers, along with their guide, were hiking near St-Henri-de-Taillon when the accident happened, police said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Three tourists were being treated for shock in a hospital in Alma, media reported. Their guide, a man in his forties, was recovered from the water by firefighters and taken to a hospital, but died Wednesday morning. Five tourists were missing.
The Lac-Saint-Jean region is popular with tourists during the winter. According to the Montreal Gazette, 20 people were killed in snowmobile accidents between 2010 and 2019 while visiting Quebec, including six tourists from France.
Most of the victims died after losing control of their snowmobiles on marked trails, the paper said.
Police said a search was under way for the five tourists.
(Reporting by Denise Paglinawan; editing by Nick Macfie)
