HALIFAX -- A New Brunswick man has died while trying to retrieve his boat after it floated away from shore.
The RCMP responded to a report of a distressed man in the Miramichi River, near Red Bank, N.B., around 1 p.m. Monday.
Police believe the man was trying to get his boat, which had floated away, when he started to struggle in the water and went under.
Divers with the RCMP’s underwater recovery team, along with members of the Sunny Corner Volunteer Fire Department, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, local Ground Search and Rescue crews, and other local volunteers assisted in the search effort.
The man’s body was found about 25 metres from shore and recovered from the river around 9 p.m. Monday.
Police have confirmed the man’s cause of death to be drowning.
His name has not been released, but police say the 44-year-old man was from Red Bank.
