Family says Ottawa man was a hero after he dies trying to save boy from drowning

OTTAWA — An Ottawa man has been found dead after he tried to save a 12-year-old boy from drowning.

Local police found the body of the 39-year-old this morning, after he went missing in the water Saturday night (at Bate Island, near the Champlain Bridge).

Ottawa fire says a call came in about the man jumping into the water with a 24-year-old man to save the boy.

Paramedics say the younger man and the boy made it back to shore, and the latter was treated for mild hypothermia.

Police are withholding the man’s identity, but his mother and stepfather say he was a hero.