OPP recover body from waters off Port Stanley beach

The search for a missing 14-year-old boy in Port Stanley, Ont. has concluded after OPP and Central Elgin Fire Rescue (CEFR) pulled a body from Lake Erie Tuesday afternoon.

“It was a very difficult recovery, and it's been a very trying couple of days for all of the crew members, as well as with our beach patrol individuals,” said Fire Chief Raymond Ormerod.

Around 2:55 p.m., the OPP dive team lifted a body from the water using the ladder from a CEFR fire truck.

“The waters were extremely rough again today, so it made the surf very strong,” said Ormerod. “It was unsafe at that point in time for the dive team to get into where they actually had to go. We were able to bring our aerial in, extend and reach the individual that was located in the water.”

It brings to a close a 48-hour search in the Port Stanley waters.

“No two recovery efforts are the same and the tools that we implement and strategies are going to differ,” said Const. Brett Phair of Elgin County OPP. “This one certainly had its challenges as well.”

Sunday afternoon, a 14-year-old boy who family and friends have identified as Omar Boz of London, Ont. went missing in the lake. Volunteers formed a human chain for nearly six hours combing the waters edge to look for the boy who came to Canada less than a year ago.

“Although it’s a tragic end, it does bring some closure to the family,” said Ormerod.

A day after the boy went missing, two children from Belmont and two adults needed to be rescued from the same waters.

Both OPP and CEFR wanted to stress those visiting area beaches need to be aware of the conditions.

“We get a lot of people wanting to take part in summer and water activities, and we're just asking everybody to recognize the dangers that do exist with those water activities,” said Phair. “They are a lot of fun, but there's a lot that we can do to keep ourselves saves something as simple as wearing a personal flotation device.”

Ormerod said if you are unfamiliar with the surroundings, seek out help from lifeguards who are on duty daily in the summer, “There is signage posted around the beach as well, and we do have a flag system that is intended to inform individuals how dangerous the beach is on any given day.”