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2 Chinese students feared drowned in Canada
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-25 11:34

OTTAWA -- The two missing boaters who were presumed drowned in the Ottawa river Sunday were students from China, Chinese embassy officials confirmed.

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Ottawa police have recovered a small inflatable boat believed to belong to the pair who went missing Saturday off the Britania Beach to the west of the capital city, embassy officials told Xinhua Sunday evening.

"The police informed us this afternoon that their efforts will now be shifted from rescue to recovery (of the bodies)," the officials said.

Both of the two men were studying in the Carleton University, one was in his third year, the other was going to graduate this summer, the officials said.

The students went boating on the Ottawa river after holding a birthday party on the Brittania Beach Saturday afternoon. Their peers later called the police as the two failed to return to meet them.

Police and fire crews scoured the river using boats and a plane. Officers on foot also hunted along the shoreline for the men.

The Ottawa River has fast-moving rapids in some spots including the area where the men were last seen, police said.