A Northern Ontario man was trying to help a friend bring a stalled personal water craft to shore when he drowned in a gravel pit Tuesday evening, police said.
Jason Laurin, 23, and a group of about 15 friends had spent the afternoon partying at the pit on Fred Flatt Road, north of Kapuskasing. Shortly before 7 p.m., one man's water craft stalled and he tried to pull it to shore.
Mr. Laurin was swimming out to him when he disappeared under the water about 150 metres from shore.
Another friend rushed into the water, pulled Mr. Laurin to the surface and got him back on land, where friends performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived. He was taken to Sensenbrenner Hospital in Kapuskasing, where he was pronounced dead.
Mr. Laurin was born in nearby Hearst and moved to Kapuskasing two years ago, said Staff Sergeant Jacques Picknell, with the local Ontario Provincial Police detachment.
The young man was an avid angler, having taken part in walleye-catching competitions, including one in 2008, in which he and a partner placed sixth in a field of 75 pairs.
"He was funny, loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping. We did a lot of four-wheeling together," said Vanessa Quinn, who went to high school with Mr. Laurin but hadn't seen him in a few years.
Friends took to a Facebook tribute page to pay their respects to the young outdoorsman.
"I thought about you the other day when my friend asked me to go fishing," wrote one. "I told him the story about how you took me for the first time and I caught my first fish."
"It sucks knowing he died in the water because it was his favourite thing he'd like to do," wrote another.
Staff Sgt. Picknell suggested that alcohol may have played a part in Mr. Laurin's death. Police believe he drank several beers in the afternoon leading up to the tragedy.
"If there was no alcohol involved, he might have made it," Staff Sgt. Picknell said. "You shouldn't be going into the water when you've had too much to drink."
Adrian Morrow