WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — A young woman drowned while trying to save her twin sister at Logos Lands, reports the CBC.
Const. Janice Sawbridge of the Renfrew OPP confirmed that police were called to Logos Land, near Cobden, Monday afternoon, Aug. 6, around 2:30 for a woman who had not resurfaced. However, they were unable to locate the the body of Maria (Jessah) Paned, 18, of Ottawa.
On Tuesday, Aug. 7, members of the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit attended and recovered Ms. Paned’s body in the afternoon.
A post mortem examination will be conducted, but foul play is not suspected.
The CBC, who was able to contact the woman’s mother, reported the family was spending the weekend at Logos Land Resort. Jessah and her sister spent much of Monday on the park’s water slides and swimming in the lake. But while the pair were in the lake in the early afternoon, Jessah’s sister began to struggle. Jessah helped her sister get to safety before slipping beneath the surface.
Fred Glover, spokesman for Logos Land, said, “Our hearts and minds are with the family right now.”
Mr. Glover said this is the first time something as tragic as this has occurred at Logos Land. The water-slide park was closed to the public for about 24 hours, he said.
The OPP did an amazing job, he said. They cordoned off the area so those at the park, especially children, would not be exposed to something so tragic, he said.
“The family is in grief beyond exaggeration,” Mr. Glover said. “We’re working with them.”
A small management team at the park, he said they are holding up as well as they can.
“We’re Christians, so we spent an awful lot of time praying the results would be different,” he said. “We kind of hoped she’d gone off on an adventure or something like that.
“But, the police, with more experience, were pretty confident about what had happened, and they were right,” he said.
“We held onto our hope until mid-day yesterday, when her body was found,” he added.
Staff and family are receiving counselling, Mr. Glover said.
