Greater Sudbury emergency responders searched Junction Creek on Friday morning after a woman claimed her two children may be lost in the tunnel system under the city’s core.
As it turned out, the woman has been taken into custody and transported to hospital under the Mental Health Act.
Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Oshell confirmed to reporters on the scene in Hnatyshyn Park that the “family is OK and accounted for.”
He said emergency responders would continue their search of the tunnels “just to be sure.”
Emergency responders wearing helmets and lifejackets rushed to the area at around 8:30 a.m. today after receiving a call that children were lost in the tunnels that channel Junction Creek under downtown.
The call brought out first responders in full force, including several police vehicles, a fire truck, two ambulances and an inflatable watercraft.
Emergency personnel jumped into the ankle-deep water of Junction Creek at Hnatyshyn Park (near the Ukrainian Seniors’ Centre in downtown Sudbury), carrying with them an inflatable rescue device and began searching the tunnels.
Oshell told reporters the woman who had reported her children missing was a resident of nearby Lloyd Street.
The woman who allegedly made the call was on the scene, appearing quite agitated and wrapped in a blanket as GSPS officers attempted to speak with her. Later, she was handcuffed and put into the back of an ambulance.
“The woman was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and is being transported to hospital to receive the services she requires,” said a Greater Sudbury Police spokesperson in an email to Sudbury.com.
“The woman believed that individuals were in the water which resulted in Paramedics and Fire Services attending the scene, however, this was not the case.”
