Serge Landry died attempting to save Denis Gagné from drowning, Amqui, Quebec, June 14, 2003. Friends Gagné, 42, and Landry, 41, garage operator, were kayaking the Matapédia River with members of their families and other friends. At an abandoned hydroelectric dam, Gagné took his kayak over the three-foot waterfall without incident, but then the kayak became caught in the backwash below the dam and was drawn back to it. The kayak rolled, spilling Gagné from it, and he became trapped in the turbulent water at the base of the dam. Landry, who had exited the river, reboarded his kayak and, from the bank just downstream of the dam, paddled to Gagné. He left the kayak and grasped hold of Gagné’s life jacket. Landry too was then caught in the turbulent water at the base of the dam. Minutes later, he and Gagné were ejected from the backwash, and they floated downstream. Responding emergency personnel removed them from the water and resuscitation was attempted, but they had drowned.
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