Man, 20, dies after being swept away by current in Rawdon

The body of a 20-year-old man has been recovered after he drowned in the Manchester Falls near Rawdon. Maya Johnson reports.

RAWDON, QC -- The body of a 20-year-old man has been recovered after he drowned in the Manchester Falls near Rawdon, 75 kilometres north of Montreal.

Michael Dion was celebrating Fete nationale with a large group of friends at the falls on Monday afternoon when he was swept away by a strong current after jumping in the water to swim.

That group immediately called the Surete du Quebec who began a search on foot, as well as using a helicopter and a boat.

Those searches ended at nightfall and resumed Tuesday morning at first light, finding Dion's body floating in the water around 11 a.m.

“We found a body inside the water. The body was taken out and brought to the hospital where the death was pronounced,” said SQ spokesperson Benoit Richard.

Friends and family who had gathered at the search headquarters were shocked to learn of the discovery.

“Of course the investigation's not finished yet. We still have a lot of people to meet and we'll see later on, but the main hypothesis we're working on is two boys just wanted to go inside the water, they jumped inside, and one of them didn't come up,” said Richard.

The area around Manchester Falls in known to be dangerous, with warning signs in the area.

The spot, littered with trash, empty beer cans and bottles, is a popular summer hangout and young people routinely ignore the signs, said locals.

“One year, the kids were playing Tarzan, and a guy smacked his head on a rock. It took hours to find him. It's just too much. There are signs! You'd think they're blind,” said Rawdon resident Charlotte Rivest.

“It's really sad, because the amount of people that come down here every year to go swimming and the accidents that happen -- it's unreal. And there's no way of stopping it because people don't listen,” said Christine Rivest.

Police said alcohol was not a factor in the young man’s death.

“The people over there were not drunk,” said Richard, stressing that the situation was still unsafe. “But of course it's an area that's very, very dangerous. You're not supposed to go inside the water over there. It's very dangerous -- a lot of rapids.”