57-year-old man dead after ATV accident

A 57-year-old man is dead after the ATV he was driving flipped over into freezing cold water in Howie Centre, N.S. Sunday afternoon.

Police, multiple fire crews, and EHS were called to the a wooded area near Aspen Grove around 1 p.m. AT., according to a news release from Cape Breton Regional Police.

Police said officers used GPS to locate a group of three riders on a trail. Once there, searchers recovered the body of a 57-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other two men were not injured, but were taken for medical assessment because of exposure to the cold water.

The man's name is not being released, pending notification of the family.

Recovery effort took several hours

Several fire departments were on scene, including crews from Sydney River, Howie Centre, and Glace Bay.

Dave Witzell, chief of the Sydney River Volunteer Fire Department, said it was challenging for crews to locate the man.

"He had been in the water for some time, and had gone down the river," he said.

Witzell said the man was found in a large brook, feeding off Joe's Lake, which had overflowed "quite drastically" after Saturday's heavy rainfall.

"It had actually washed out one of the bridges that they used normally to get into that area, and that presented an extra problem for us to try and get around it," he said.

During the recovery effort, an all-terrain search and rescue vehicle belonging to North Sydney's fire department also rolled into the brook. It took several hours to recover.