2 men dead after being ejected from boat on Annapolis Valley lake

Two men are dead after a boating accident on a lake in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, RCMP say.

Emergency crews responded at about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday to a report that people had been ejected from a boat on Aylesford Lake south of Berwick, N.S.

Five men from Kings County were aboard when two of them were thrown from the vessel as “surface conditions of the water changed,” an RCMP news release said Thursday.

When asked for details on the nature of the change in surface conditions, police would not elaborate.

A 70-year-old man from Aylesford, N.S., who was located in the water by an uninvolved boater nearby was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The body of the second boater, a 58-year-old man also from Aylesford, was found on Thursday.

The RCMP said in an interview Thursday that neither man was wearing a life-jacket.

The other three men were not injured, the release said.

A statement from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax said RCMP had requested their assistance in the search on Wednesday.

The JRCC initially tasked a military helicopter for the search and then a drone was used due to the size of the search area.

The Municipality of the County of Kings released a public notice Thursday morning saying the Aylesford Lake public beach was closed for swimming and paddling until further notice. 

David Corkum, mayor of the municipality, told CBC News it’s a sombre day for his community.

“We’re all shocked and very saddened for those that have been affected. It’s a sad day, really, in Kings County when something like this happens. Certainly our sympathies go out to families and those involved,” Corkum told CBC News.

The incident is one of two boating-related fatalities in Nova Scotia this week. The RCMP reported a 24-year-old man died after a boat ran aground in Cumberland County on Tuesday.

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