Montreal emergency services rescued two young adults in critical condition from the Lachine Canal late Saturday night after one fell into the water and the other attempted a rescue.
According to the Montreal fire department, emergency services responded to the scene near René-Lévesque Park shortly before midnight following reports of the incident.
The fire department and the Canadian Coast Guard deployed three boats to conduct a joint search operation in the area.
Fire officials stated that sonar equipment ultimately helped teams locate the two individuals, though authorities did not confirm how long they remained submerged.
Urgences-santé spokesperson Steve Macduff told Global News that six paramedics deployed to the scene provided immediate medical interventions before transporting both patients to the hospital.
Macduff confirmed that both individuals are in their early 20s, noting that one patient is male while the gender of the second remains unknown.
No updated status on the patients was available from Urgences-santé, and the coroner’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
The incident coincides with a push by the Société de sauvetage, Quebec’s water safety organization, urging the next provincial government to establish permanent funding for school swimming programs.
Société de sauvetage data reveals 22 people have drowned in Quebec so far this year, which matches figures from the same period in 2025.
However, river drownings spiked to approximately 60 percent of this year's total, compared to 27 percent during the same timeframe last year.
Société de sauvetage Executive Director Raynald Hawkins told Global News that this total marks a sharp decline from the nearly 200 annual drownings recorded in Quebec roughly 40 years ago.
Hawkins noted that the majority of drownings remain preventable, while separate data from the Canadian Drowning Prevention Research Centre indicates that over half of accidental drowning deaths involve an untrained person attempting a rescue.
"People will say I don’t have any choice, I have to jump in the water and try and reach them before I lose them.
This is a kind of reaction we can have, particularly if it’s a very close person to us," said Hawkins.
The water safety executive advised that unless an individual is a trained swimmer, the safest course of action is to immediately contact emergency services.
"But don’t take a risk," said Hawkins.
Hawkins additionally expressed support for a Boating Safety Council initiative to mandate lifejackets alongside permanent funding for school swim programs.
"Going in this direction we’re gonna see our numbers going down to 20 drownings in Québec and close to 100 in Canada and the average will be in the future maybe close to 40," said Hawkins.
The organization continues to monitor provincial drowning statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of local water safety campaigns.
"But again, when we have one drowning … [it] is too much for us," said Hawkins.
