After a series of drowning deaths in Prince Edward County the previous week, police and rescue crews received a reprieve Monday July 28.

A 911 call from Outlet Beach just after 1:30 p.m. reported a 3-year-old child missing and last seen near the water.

As first responders were on their way, the child and her mother were being reunited.

After the conclusion of the first call, a second request for help came from another part of Outlet beach. Two male swimmers in their 20’s had gone swimming and were no longer visible to their friends on shore.

Prince Edward OPP officers and Prince Edward County Fire & Rescue collaborated on a grid search. Officers ordered all swimmers out of the water. The County’s rescue boat patrolled at a depth of 10′ while volunteers waded through the waves, searching for the two men.

Eventually, the missing swimmers were located about 200 yards further up the shoreline from where they had entered.

Better safe than sorry is the moral. Both the OPP and Fire & Rescue stressed they were happy to be called sooner rather than later, and exhorted all swimmers to remember water safety and to stay in touch with those on shore.