The body of a Mississauga man has been found in Lake Huron, a day after he disappeared while trying to save his 7-year-old son who was struggling in the water.
Police were called to the Port Albert Main Beach near Goderich around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
They say the boy was caught in the current at the mouth of the Nine Mile River.
“We do know that the child was swimming in that area did not have a life preserver on or a life jacket,” said OPP Constable Jamie Stanley.
The boy’s father, 39-year-old Tomasz Gladkowski of Mississauga, and another man swam out into the water to rescue him.
The boy and the man made it back to shore safely.
Gladkowski, however, did not.
“The information that we have is that we was a good swimmer,” said Cst. Stanley. “But it’s a very powerful undertow in that area.”
When he failed to return to the beach, a search was organized.
The Huron County OPP, Lucknow Fire Department, Canadian Coast Guard and OPP divers searched the water for Gladkowski, along with a helicopter from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton.
The OPP Underwater Search & Recovery Unit was called in on Monday.
Nearly 24 hours after he went into the water, police recovered Gladkowski’s body about 150 metres from the shore.
