TWILLINGATE, N.L. — The mayor of a small Newfoundland community says the drowning deaths of two young brothers who frequented the town wharf and a local man who gave them a boat ride have devastated his tightknit community.
An intensive search was continuing Sunday for a fourth man who was aboard the boat that went missing off Twillingate — a town on an island off the province’s northeastern coast.
Gordon Noseworthy, the mayor and harbourmaster, says many of the 2,500 people in the picturesque harbour — famed for whales and icebergs — knew the two boys, whose names have not been released.
“In a place the size of Twillingate everybody knows everybody. It’s like a close-knit family...In my case alone I know all four of them well,” said Noseworthy. “They were just out for a joy ride, that’s all,” he said, reached a few minutes after word came that the younger brother’s body had been recovered.
“Unfortunately they won’t be back.”
In his role as harbour master, Noseworthy had seen the pair down by the wharf most summer days, showing endless curiousity about the sea and the fishing boats.
“The two little boys are pretty well known all over town...I look out to the wharfs and they’re on the wharf everyday, hanging about boats and watching the crab and the shrimp being unloaded,” he said.
Noseworthy said the pair went out for a ride with the two middle-aged men in a four-metre fibreglass outboard, with a 70 horsepower motor, at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The mayor said the weather became rough during the afternoon, with three-metre swells starting to heave up. He speculated the vessel had difficulties coping with the conditions.
“If she capsized...with a motor that size she would have gone straight to the bottom,” said the mayor.
“It was rough. It was too rough to be out there in a small boat,” he added.
Noseworthy said one of the men lived in Twillingate and was experienced in boats, and the other man — who owned the boat — was originally from the area and was visiting for the summer.
Neil Peet, a spokesman for the coast guard, says searchers found the bodies of an eight-year-old boy from Twillingate and the man in his 40s at about 12:00 p.m. Sunday.
The body of a 10-year-old boy, the brother of the eight-year-old, was located by search teams early in the morning.