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Windsor Police Service units responded Sunday afternoon, May 18, 2025, to Sand Point Beach in east Windsor after a report of a possible drowning. A 15-year-old swimmer was reported missing. Search efforts continued into the night and resumed Monday morning. Photo by Doug Schmidt /Windsor
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Shortly after noon on Monday, OPP dive team members located and recovered the body of a 15-year-old swimmer reported missing near Windsor’s Sand Point Beach on Sunday afternoon.
“His body was discovered in the area of where he was last seen swimming,” Windsor Police Service reported in an update Monday afternoon.
Shortly after 3 p.m. on Sunday, officers were dispatched following a report of a missing teen near the city’s only public beach, located in the 10000 block of Riverside Drive East.
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Police said two teenagers were swimming just west of the beach when one went under in the water and did not resurface. The second teenager flagged down a nearby boater and called for police assistance.
The Windsor Police Service marine unit quickly launched a search, and enlisted support from the Coast Guard, Canadian Armed Forces, and Ontario Provincial Police.
Crews scoured a section of the Detroit River into the evening but were unable to locate the missing teen. The search resumed Monday morning, with Ontario Provincial Police divers locating the body during the noon hour.
With Peche Island in the background, members of the Windsor Police Service marine unit are shown Monday morning during the search in the Detroit River for a 15-year-old swimmer reporting missing from nearby Sand Point Beach in Windsor the day before. The body of the drowning victim was discovered shortly after noon on Monday. Photo by MILLAR HOLMES-HILL /Windsor Star
The westerly section of the public beach is located near a dangerous dropoff with strong currents and is fenced off and has signs indicating that swimming in that area is prohibited.
This latest incident echoes a similar tragedy at the start of last year’s swim season.
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On May 23, 2024, two young men — Yogesh Bajgai, 25, and Rohit Dheer, 22 — drowned in the water while swimming just west of Sand Point Beach. The pair had reportedly entered the water and walked off into the 30-foot-deep shipping channel.
Their bodies were recovered the following day.
In response to last year’s drownings, the city raised a four-foot high chainlink fence to eight feet at the west end of the beach, where it runs parallel to the shoreline.
City staff also had the beach volleyball play area equipment removed from the west end of the beach to prevent any errant balls from drawing players toward the water.
A sign warning people not to swim near the west side of Sand Point Beach in Windsor is shown on Monday, May 19, 2025. Photo by MILLAR HOLMES-HILL /Windsor Star
“It’s a challenge,” Windsor Police Service Board chair Jo-Anne Gignac told the Star as the search was still underway. She said city council has “adopted various things over the years to alert people to the fact that this is a very quick-moving body of water when you move from a lake into the river.
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“It’s got a history.”
Sand Point Beach remains a popular destination during the warmer months. However, strong currents and it’s proximity to the Detroit River shipping channel, continue to pose risk for swimmers.
In May 2021, a 24-year-old man drowned at the beach, which has life guards during the peak summer swim months. Including that young man, the channel’s strong currents have reportedly claimed eight lives since the municipal beach opened in 1980.
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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Windsor Police Service at 519-255-6700, ext. 4000. Information can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at http://catchcrooks.com.
If you or someone you know is an affected person in need of support, please call Victim Services Windsor Essex County at 519-723-2711 or the Victim Assistance Unit at Windsor Police at 519-255-6700, ext. 4879.
In a social media post, Windsor police added: “We extend our deepest condolences to his loved ones, and we ask that the privacy of his family be respected during this extremely difficult time.”
— With files from Doug Schmidt
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