A car that’s been submerged in an Alberta lake for nearly a year has finally been removed from the water.
The recovery happened at Floatingstone Lake in St. Paul County on Tuesday.
“I’m quite happy that the car is finally out of the water,” said area resident Roland Letendre, who has been working for months to get the vehicle removed.
Letendre came upon the submerged Mazda in a shallower area of the lake this past spring. RCMP told Global News the car went through the ice on Nov. 26, 2023, while its occupants were ice fishing.
Worried about the environmental impact the car was having on the lake, its habitat and the people who use the water, Letendre has been working ever since the spring to get it out.
Letendre contacted officials from the county, province, fish and wildlife, and the RCMP. He was given the runaround.
In a statement to Global News earlier this month, Alberta Forestry and Parks said it was working on a plan to remove the car from the lake.
On Tuesday, Letendre said he drove by the lake and saw several vehicles and a tow truck at the boat launch.
“They were already on the lake. So I put the boat in the water and headed over there and I was watching them,” he said Thursday morning.
Letendre said the recovery crews used airbags to lift the vehicle off the bottom of the lake, flipped it and then towed it with two boats back to the boat launch.
“It was a very slow pace. You could walk faster than they were towing it,” he said. “It came out very well.”
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Letendre said the vehicle, which he originally thought was yellow, was actually white. It came out of the water covered in algae.
“The car was full of muck,” he said. “There was stuff hanging off the mirror. It looked like algae — something you would see in an ocean photography movie.”
Letendre applauded the team that co-ordinated the extraction, calling it “flawless.”
“I was very satisfied to see it out. It’s been a long road.”
Global News has reached out to Alberta Forestry and Parks for updated information on the vehicle recovery and will update this story if a response is received.
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
A car submerged in Alberta’s Floatingstone Lake removed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Courtesy / Roland Letendre
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