A person was found dead on Tuesday morning in the canal in Brussels near the metro station Delacroix. The Brussels fire brigade confirmed that the person drowned.
On Tuesday morning around 08:40, the Brussels fire brigade was called to the canal in Anderlecht as it was reported a person was spotted in the water. Despite several search efforts, the remains of the person were pulled out of the canal just before 10:00, Walter Derieuw, the fire brigade's spokesperson, confirmed.
Derieuw added that the person was a young man but did not release more information regarding the identity of the person. The circumstances of his death will be the subject of a police investigation.
A search and rescue boat on the canal in Anderlecht. Credit: Brussels Fire Brigade
Upon the fire brigade's arrival at the scene on Tuesday morning, witnesses who had remained near where the young man had gone underwater helped pinpoint the person's exact location.
"The navigation of all boats was stopped and the locks were closed," Derieuw said. However, the first searches carried out by the fire brigade's divers were unsuccessful.
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"Given the total absence of visibility and the powerful current, the sonar of the port captain's boat and our boat were used to widen the search radius, but the large number of objects littering the bottom of the canal made the operation more difficult."
Finally, at around 09:50, the remains of the drowned man were pulled out of the canal, Derieuw said. "The police zone Brussels Midi will carry out the usual investigations to determine the circumstances of this tragic incident."
