Man missing after boat, ferry crash on Rivière des Prairies

Divers with the provincial police service are searching for a 23-year-old man who went missing after a small boat hit a ferry on the Rivière des Prairies.

Const. Frank Di Genova of Laval police said 911 calls started coming in around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday telling police there had been a watercraft collision on the river between the west end of Laval and Île-Bizard.

​Nine people travelling on a small boat meant for four or five hit a ferry carrying about a dozen people, six cars and one motorcycle. 

Despite the ferry driver using his blow horn to try to avoid a collision, the small boat still hit it, according to police.

Some of the people on the small watercraft were thrown into the water; others sustained lacerations and minor injuries from the impact.

Laval emergency workers rescued eight of the nine people on the boat. 

Now, divers with the Sûreté du Québec are on the scene trying to find the body of the missing man.

Di Genova said the river current in that area is quite strong, with water travelling at approximately 20 to 22 kilometres an hour. The missing man could have been swept into another body of water.

No one on the ferry was injured, and Di Genova said it didn't appear any of the vehicles on board the ferry were damaged. 

Di Genova said nobody on the small boat was wearing a safety vest, and that the driver tested negative for alcohol.