What was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into a day of mourning after a 52-year-old woman was pulled from the water near Tofino this weekend, just hours before her daughter was getting married.
Ann Wittenberg travelled from Ottawa to attend her daughter Victoria Emon’s wedding, and had gone to Long Beach with her other daughter Rachel while the wedding was prepared on Sunday.
The pair had gone surfing, Emon told Global News, and Wittenberg somehow ended up in the water.
RCMP said that bystanders saw Wittenberg in distress at around 10:30 a.m. and managed to get her out of the water. But despite the efforts of paramedics, she did not survive.
Despite the tragedy, Emon decided to go ahead with the wedding later that day, saying its what Wittenberg would’ve wanted.
“We went ahead with the wedding, and my sister was my maid of honour. My mom was happy about that, she would have been happy about that,” she said.
Tofino RCMP said the accident should serve as a warning for people make sure they’re adequately prepared and aware of the risks before going into the water.
“People should be aware that all the beaches in the Tofino area are unsupervised and that ocean currents and waves can be unpredictable and present a number of hazards,” Hert told CBC News.
