9-year-old boy dies after being pulled from water at Ottawa's Britannia Beach

A nine-year-old boy died in hospital after being pulled from the Ottawa River at Britannia Beach.

Emergency crews responded to a call at approximately 3:50 p.m. Monday for a child found unresponsive in the water.

Bystanders and police performed CPR on the victim until paramedics arrived at the scene.

Ottawa police said Tuesday morning the child died in hospital.

"We want to thank the bystanders and first responders for their valiant efforts in attempts to save him," police said in a statement.

Witnesses told CTV News Ottawa they saw the boy under the water.

"It hurt my heart, big time. I've never seen anything like this in my life," witness Rachel Padden said Monday afternoon.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board says the child was a student at one of its elementary schools.

"We are providing support to the classmates, staff, and family members," a board spokesperson told CTV News Ottawa, adding the board does not have permission to release the child's name.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and the school community as they deal with this tragedy."

In a statement, the city says it is "heartbroken by the tragic news" a young boy drowned at Britannia Beach.

"Our thoughts are with the child’s family and we would like to share our deepest condolences during this very difficult time for them," Tracey McGarry, director of Complexes, Aquatics and Specialty Services, told CTV News Ottawa.

The drowning happened on one of the warmest days of the year in Ottawa, with the temperature warming up to 28 C.

Lifeguards are not yet posted at Britannia Beach. The City of Ottawa says supervised swimming will begin June 15 at Britannia, Mooney's Bay and Petrie Island beaches. 

While some residents are calling for lifeguards to start earlier in June, McGarry says the majority of lifeguards are students.

"Due to the school year schedule and staff availability for pre-season training and work, the programming hours at outdoor pools and beaches are scheduled within a timeframe that the majority of lifeguards are available to work," McGarry said.

"The beach supervision program is funded to operate for 72 days, with a Council directive that beaches close for the season no earlier than the fourth Sunday in August. During May and June, indoor pools are available for public and lane swims, and over 160 splash pads are activated for the summer by the Victoria Day weekend."

Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said the city is dealing with a shortage of lifeguards.

"Even if you had funding, can you find the lifeguards? I recently went swimming at a pool, a city pool for a public swim, and was turned away because they didn't have enough lifeguards. Now, they can close a pool. They can close a pool and say go home, we don't have enough lifeguards. You can't do that at a beach," she said.

Const. Caroline Gallant, of the Ottawa Police Marine, Dive and Trails Unit said keeping kids within arms reach, putting devices away and keeping eyes on kids at all times is paramount when around water.

"If you're not really comfortable in the water as an adult, still getting some basic learn to swim, learn to survive kind of techniques is still really important." Gallant said.

Police are asking anyone who was present at Britannia Beach when the incident occurred and have not yet spoken to investigators, to contact the West Criminal Investigations Section at 613-236-1222, ext. 2666.

With files from CTV's  Austin Lee, Ted Raymond and Shaun Vardon

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App