A local woman who was reported missing Wednesday evening was found safe Thursday afternoon in the middle of Kempenfelt Bay and was being checked out at the local hospital.
There was heavy police activity at Johnson's Beach in the city's end and in Kempenfelt Bay, Thursday afternoon, as emergency crews searched for the 39-year-old woman. She was retrieved from the water, approximately 400 metres from shore, around 4:30 p.m.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said it was a collaborative effort between the city police marine unit, mobile crisis response team, Barrie Fire and local paramedics that led to a positive outcome.
“She is being taken to local hospital, just to get checked out, but this is a good way to end the day,” Leon said. “We hadn’t stopped searching from when we got the call last night and we enhanced our efforts today with the OPP helicopter and having the mobile response unit out first thing this morning.”
There were several city police vehicles parked near Johnson's Beach as investigators focused on the area inside the Barrie Yacht Club. A police boat also circled in the bay before eventually bringing the woman on board.
“We did receive information that directed us to the yacht club and, furthermore, out into the lake where we located the person in question,” Leon said.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., it appeared that the Barrie police boat had located someone in the water.
A crisis management worker was driven from Johnson’s Beach to the City of Barrie Marina along Lakeshore Drive and was then taken out by a smaller City of Barrie boat to the scene in the water.
Minutes later, the small boat came back and retrieved four members of the Barrie Fire technical rescue team, taking them out to the scene in the water as well.
Leon said police don't believe the woman was in the water the whole time after being reported missing.
“The most incredible thing is this is a very happy ending to a very long day,” he said. “What this does show the public so that we will take a missing persons case very seriously.”
