BALA — The Moon River Falls and its raging, rain-swollen currents are treacherous, Muskoka locals said yesterday after three swimmers from the GTA vanished Sunday.
“We come up here all the time with our kids,” a 38-year-old Metis woman who walked in along the shore to pray for the trio, said on a rocky outcrop near the falls that pours into the Moon River between Port Severn and Port Perry.
“I won’t let my two boys dive in there,” she said of her 7-and-9-year-old sons.
“Every local knows if you go in where they went in, you’ll be shot out quickly,” the woman said, as she cleared discarded beer and pop bottles.
“We would not jump into those waters even in the safer area,” she said.
One of the worst problems are rocks hidden below the surface. There are also swirling currents where — after OPP divers postponed their two-day search until today — a pair of sandals bobbed up and down in continuous circles.
“The sandals were there earlier,” said a local diver, who tried in vain to find the missing swimmers.
“I saw someone’s leg but couldn’t reach him ... I had to get out,” said the man, who didn’t want his name used.
“It’s pretty clear water, about seven feet deep, but it was moving so you could only see about a foot in front of you,” he said.
A coroner was called to the falls, where a dozen OPP officers were searching and talking to witnesses.
No names were released for the GTA victims.
Seven people went into the water but soon were in trouble due to the fast currents, the OPP said.
Two youths used a heavy branch to get out two swimmers while another pair swam to safety.
Two survivors who reportedly nearly drowned were released from hospital after being taken there by air ambulance. The other two had minor injuries.
Sluice gates at nearby dams were lowered to reduce the river’s level before searchers return, but the OPP said a safer depth for divers could take 24 hours to achieve.
Several relatives and friends of the missing trio watched from the other side of the remote river, where they had been staying at the Moon River Resort, but had no comment.
At the resort where the group was staying in the well-maintained yellow-sided wooden cottages overlooking the river, the owner said he had no comment, except to say “this is extremely unfortunate.”
Camper William Martin, 21, of Brampton, who attends school in Barrie, said the waterfall can be a problem for newcomers.
“Those rapids are dangerous but people don’t realize the calmer-looking water is moving quickly, too, and you can get into trouble,” he said.
“Part of the problem may be they were having too much fun and weren’t paying enough attention,” Martin said.
“Anywhere else down here is okay but not up at the falls,” he said. “It’s pretty vicious up there now.”
