Body found after 5 snowmobilers crashed through Canada ice

Canadian searchers on Friday found the body of one of five French snowmobilers whose machines fell through the ice of a frozen lake, police said.

Hopes had dimmed of finding any of the five alive, despite a search that included divers, sonar operators and police backed by helicopters in the area about 225 kilometers (140 miles) north of Quebec City.

Quebec provincial police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said the body "was found more than two kilometers from the initial search area in Grande Decharge River" at the mouth of Lake Saint-Jean where the accident happened.

"At the moment, we can't identify the body," Beaulieu said.

The group included eight French tourists, three of whom survived. Their Canadian guide died when they crashed through ice while snowmobiling Tuesday evening in an area that is off limits to snowmobiles because the ice is thinner there.

Police had already recovered six snowmobiles at the bottom of the lake near where the accident occurred, which prompted a pledge from provincial authorities to tighten safety measures on the use of the machines.