(Posted 7:30 a.m., March 2)
Police recover body of Gatineau man who drowned while trying to tow ice shack
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The Ottawa Police have recovered the body of a Gatineau man who drowned while trying to tow an ice fishing shack off the Ottawa River near Petrie Island.

The east bay at Petrie Island is a popular ice fishing location with dozens of ice fishing shacks normally dotting the ice. Because of this year's early thaw, a number of the regulars had already removed their huts from the ice so that by late Sunday only one remained further out than the rest.

According to one witness, the owner of the hut tried to tow it with an Argus ATV but became stuck. Rather than risk towing it with a truck he opted to leave it and risk getting a fine from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Belanger had already removed his own shack, but the abandoned hut was bigger and had more bells and whistles. When he asked about the shack, the owner told him that if wanted to risk getting it, he could keep it. That's when he and Beaudry decided to try and tow it to shore using a pickup truck.

On their first attempt, one of the wheels of the truck got stuck in the soft ice. They were hooking up a second truck to the first truck when the ice started to give way. As the first truck broke through the ice, Belanger, who was near the front bumper, got sucked into the water. Beaudry tried to pull his friend out but he slipped under the ice and disappeared.

Another angler who has known Belanger for seven years said it was "a stupid decision".

“Nobody (should have gone out there) with a vehicle. That shack (was) going to sink, there (was) nothing you could do about it," said Reg Avon.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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