Quebec woman died when 1st responders couldn't pull her from river. Her family wants answers

Claude Deladurantaye was working at a construction site near the Rivière du Sud, in Montmagny, Que., about 80 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, when he heard a splash.

It was 12:30 p.m. on April 21 and to his horror, he saw a car bobbing in the water. It had run off the highway and plunged into the water with a woman at the wheel.

Josyane Tanguay Pelletier, a 36-year-old notary and lawyer on her way back to Rimouski from a business trip to Montreal, was stranded and he was the only person around.

When he first saw her she was unconscious.

"Then she woke up and I said 'Oh my God, she's alive!'" said Deladurantaye.

He radioed a colleague, who called 911.

Then Deladurantaye ran down to the riverbank, where the car was initially about three metres away. After a few minutes the current pulled the vehicle into the middle of the river.

He says the airbags had deployed, obstructing the driver's view, and water was seeping in from the front of the car — which had sustained the impact of the crash.

He says one of the backseat windows was partially open and Tanguay Pelletier called out to him.

"She said 'Please don't give up on me,'" said Deladurantaye. "When her eyes met mine, my life changed forever."

He says he promised her he wouldn't leave her and for the next 25 minutes, Deladurantaye did his best to comfort Tanguay Pelletier as they waited desperately for emergency crews to arrive. As the frigid waters rose, she slipped into unconsciousness.

"And I never left her, until the end," said Deladurantaye quietly. "I cried out to her that I had called the police and that they were going to save her … She believed until the last minute. So did I."

As Deladurantaye stood helplessly looking on, he heard sirens in the distance.

"She struggled against the water rising in her car," said Deladurantaye. Then, he says, the car was swamped and she was lost to the river.

By the time emergency crews arrived — police at about 12:55, an ambulance and firefighters a few minutes later — Deladurantaye says only the top of the car was visible.

Tanguay Pelletier's death made headlines across the province because the firefighters who finally did arrive at the scene were unable to intervene right away. It has raised the issue of water rescue training and the proper equipment in Quebec fire stations.

Tanguay Pelletier's family are still trying to understand how it could have happened, taking the life of a young woman they described as an accomplished professional and "a ray of sunshine" who loved to sing and dance.

Although family and friends are still waiting on the coroner's report and the results of an investigation, Josyane's mother, Marise Tanguay, and stepfather, Bertrand Potvin, believe she could have survived the plunge.

'Josyane could have been saved,' says stepfather

What details have emerged about her death have only added to the family's grief, said Potvin.

"Josyane was a fighter, who never gave up," he added. "Even in the river, she fought for 25 minutes without help. Our pain is doubled because Josyane could have been saved if rescuers had been trained and equipped."

Crews arrived 'too late,' pulled her out 72 minutes after accident

It took some emergency crews nearly half an hour to arrive on the scene, when Potvin and Tanguay say it is only a three-minute drive from the fire station.

Deladurantaye says when the firefighters did arrive, he overheard them saying they couldn't enter the water because they didn't have water rescue training.

"They had a motorboat … [But] they have not been able to afford training," said Deladurantaye.

"[The paramedic] told me if it has been more than 10 minutes, and she's been under cold water, there's nothing we can do. I said 'what?'"

He says Tanguay Pelletier was only pulled out of the water around 1:44 p.m. — 72 minutes after the accident — by Croisières Lachance, a boating tourism company that was called when it became clear emergency crews could not intervene.

In the weeks that followed the accident, Deladurantaye spoke with Tanguay Pelletier's parents — and attended her funeral — and helped them understand what had happened in their daughter's final moments. He agreed to speak with CBC because he wants to support Tanguay Pelletier's parents in their quest for answers — and change.

"It hurts. I was the last person she ever talked to. She was the last person who believed in me. The system, it's crap," said Deladurantaye.

"I was all alone for 25 minutes. That just can't be. I was in the downtown area … You can't let someone die like that."

Listen | Witness describes waiting for first responders after accident:

"That's what's terrible," said Tanguay Pelletier's stepfather. "We are in shock and we have to live the rest of our lives with Josyane's departure, whom we loved so much."

"I don't want this to happen to anyone else," said Marise, sitting on the couch next to her husband. She gripped a photo of her daughter in her hands.

"I want there to be training."

Gaps in training for volunteer firefighters

The city of Montmagny says its fire service is composed principally of volunteers and that aside from the director and the fire prevention officer almost all of its firefighters have full-time jobs elsewhere.

According to a survey by Quebec's association of fire chiefs that was sent out to over 400 fire safety directors, just over 5,000 out of 21,000 firefighters in the province do their job full time.

It's part of what makes water-rescue training challenging, says Westley Grenon, director of operations at SIFA, an organization that offers water rescue training courses.

As an instructor who teaches firefighters, he says that emergency services are not always equally equipped everywhere in the province.

"Go drive an hour-and-a-half out of Montreal and you'll fall into the part-time services. Drive another half hour past that and now you're in full-on volunteer areas where you'll have a big gap," said Grenon.

He says in these cases, it's sometimes difficult to impose a uniform set of qualifications, including advanced water rescue courses.

If the team is not properly qualified at the time of a difficult call out in the field, Grenon says a "no-go call is absolutely the best."

"The famous go/no-go call is the hardest thing any rescuer will have to face when in the field," said Grenon.

He says it can be traumatic for a team of first responders to stand by helplessly while watching a civilian struggle to survive.

In the case of Tanguay Pelletier's accident, he says the river can be colder than expected because it's in movement. That can shorten a victim's survival window and put rescuers at greater risk.

Investigation underway, Montmagny wants water rescue training

The municipality of Montmagny says it's not doing interviews because an investigation is underway.

On Tuesday, the city issued a statement saying it wants clearer rules on water rescues. The statement made reference to the deaths of two firefighters near Baie-Saint-Paul, Que. in April 2023 following floods in the area.

"The city confirms its commitment to offering water rescue training that meets health and safety standards," read the statement.

Montmagny Mayor Marc Laurin says his heart goes out to the family and friends of Tanguay Pelletier.

"We offer them our most sincere condolences. This event shook, and continues to shake, our citizens and employees. We will do everything in our power to respond to the requests of the investigators," said Laurin.

Grieving boyfriend, best friend and family

For Tanguay Pelletier's loved ones, any investigation or recommendations about training improvements may give them some solace, but they will not erase their pain.

Tanguay Pelletier's boyfriend, Karl Thériault, had only met her in January but had quickly fallen in love with her sense of humour and her positive outlook.

"We were meant to be together," said Thériault. "It was magic. We were in love."

"We were so happy," said Thériault. "When I met her I was like, 'Oh my God, like she's like the girl I always wanted to meet' … She was my rare jewel.'"

Tanguay Pelletier's best friend, Justine Savard, was on the phone with her before the accident.

The pair was catching up on their plans to see each other when the line went dead.

Savard thought the call had been dropped because of a weak signal. Two days later, she heard what had really happened and that her best friend was dead.

"It was like a nightmare," said Savard. "I just didn't believe it at first. It just didn't make any sense because she was full of life and we were laughing, giggling, thinking about making plans for the future ... She deserved a lot more."

As for Tanguay Pelletier's family, they are still having difficulty believing the nightmare is real.

"She was in a good place because she found a job she adored and she found the love of her life and was thinking about starting a family, but then this happened," said her mother, Marise, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Our daughter was ripped away from us. That's how we feel. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to accept this. I still don't believe it. We're mourning and we will be for a long time."