Man, 32, drowns in Iqaluit bay
Criminality ‘not suspected’ RCMP say; coroner also investigating
RCMP and the Nunavut coroner’s office are investigating the death of a 32-year-old man who drowned in Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit Tuesday afternoon. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
RCMP are looking into the drowning death Tuesday of a 32-year-old man in Iqaluit.
Police were notified at 2:40 p.m. that a person was seen swimming in Frobisher Bay, according to an RCMP news release Thursday. Ten minutes later, they were advised the person had gone under and did not resurface.
Iqaluit emergency services workers recovered the body of the man at about 3 p.m., the release said. The temperature in Iqaluit on Tuesday afternoon was around 2 C, with light winds.
RCMP and the Nunavut coroner’s office are both investigating but criminality is not suspected, the release said.
RCMP did not release the man’s name.
“The Iqaluit RCMP extend their condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and thank those who assisted in recovery efforts,” the release said.
The news release comes two days after videos were posted on Facebook showing a person in the water while the tide was low near an Iqaluit beach area. In one of the clips, paramedics are seen loading a man into an ambulance with what appeared to be a CPR compression device over his body.
Those videos were taken down Wednesday morning, and the account that posted them is no longer visible.
When asked Wednesday for comment on Iqaluit emergency services’ response to the incident, city spokesperson Geoff Byrne said he had no further information to provide.
Cold water swimming is risky. The water temp is obviously very low so at the most 5 minutes in, less or not at all if you are not adapted
Article tells us the air temp but the water is what killed him. I wonder what the temp was? Must be close to zero?
The average summer temperature for the water in the bay is -5°C. Below zero.
If it were below 0°C, wouldn’t that make it ice?
Sea water only begins to freeze at -6 C.
My heart goes out to his family. The water was minus 2 degrees centigrade. Any colder it would be ice.