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Pickering, Ont., man drowns in Lake Erie

A Pickering man drowned on Wednesday while swimming in Lake Erie.

Man was vacationing at a resort near Port Colborne, Ont.

Niagara Regional Police received a call at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday from the Sherkston Shores Beach Resort. The man's body was found less than three hours later. (Francis Vachon/Canadian Press)

A 50-year-old Pickering, Ont., man has drowned in Lake Erie while vacationing at a resort near Port Colborne, Ont.

Niagara Region police say they received a call for help at about 5 p.m. Wednesday regarding a person in possible distress about 180 metres from shore at the Sherkston Shores Beach Resort.

Police, firefighters and a military helicopter from CFB Trenton conducted a search and found the man's body in the water at about 7:40 p.m.

Police say he was alone at the time of the incident and was in the water on an inflatable lounger.

He was last seen by witnesses trying to swim towards shore before they lost sight of him. The lounger was found several hundred meters from where the man was last seen.

Police say he has been identified and his next of kin notified, but his name has not been released.

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