Last victim of capsized canoe, 5-year-old girl, found dead

The police found the last victim of a German family’s canoe capsizing on Thursday. The 5-year-old girl did not survive, the police said on Friday. Her 32-year-old mother and 42-year-old father also died when the canoe capsized on the Veluwemeer. Her 7-year-old sister was the only survivor. She is in hospital.

The German family's canoe capsized on the Veluwemeer near Biddinghuizen on Thursday afternoon. Emergency services responded to the scene around 3:00 p.m. after a report of a child in the water. They rescued the 7-year-old girl, and an ambulance took her to a hospital.

The police, Coast Guard, Fire Department, and others immediately started searching for the rest of her family. Her 32-year-old mother was pulled out of the water at 3:40 p.m. on Thursday. Paramedics tried to resuscitate her, but it was to no avail.

Searchers found the 42-year-old man’s body at around 10:00 p.m. An hour later, the search for the 5-year-old girl’s body got called off because it was too dark to see. The police resumed the search on Friday morning. “It led to the tragic discovery of her body,” the police said. “We’ve made contact with their family in Germany.”

According to police spokesperson Joost Lanshage, the 7-year-old girl is still in the hospital. She was found on a buoy at around 3:20 p.m. on Thursday, he said to Omrep Flevoland. Physically, she is doing okay under the circumstances, but mentally, “the blow is enormous.”

The police are investigating exactly what happened. “There are several conceivable scenarios,” Lanshage said. “One of those scenarios is that it was an accident, but we don’t know for sure. And that is what the police are investigating.”