With arms linked, a line of police and volunteers combed the waters of Lake Ontario after a swimmer was reported missing off Woodbine Beach Thursday afternoon.
According to Toronto police, a call came in around 3:09 p.m. that a woman went under the water about 500 metres east of the Olympic Pool.
Catherine Konderka said she was watching a woman in the water when she seemed to disappear.
“I noticed a girl going past the buoy there, which is in a really quite a deep area,” said Konderka. “I seen her swim under, no distress or anything like that, and not come back up.”
Police organized volunteers, many of them from the surrounding area, to enter the water and link arms to form a wall to search the water.
The police marine unit assisted in the search, as did lifeguards from the beach in rowboats.
By 5 p.m., police said the search came up without finding anyone.
“Nobody, at this time, has reported anybody missing to us,” said Const. Rob McDonald.
Police also said that conflicting reports from witnesses made the search challenging.
Police said they did find one pair of shoes on the beach, but noted that it is a busy beach and finding clothes left behind is not uncommon.
The ambulance that had been waiting at the scene left around 6 p.m.
With files from CTV Toronto’s Tamara Cherry
