Last night the body of the man who had been missing since yesterday was found at the Nijstad pavilion near Hoogeveen. The man disappeared under water around 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon.
At the beginning of the night, a search team found the body of the man, a resident of the asylum seekers’ center. The body has been removed from the water. Police are investigating the exact identity of the man and the circumstances under which he drowned.
Initially, the pavilion staff went into the water to look for the man. Later, divers from the fire brigade from Emmen and Zwolle arrived on the scene to look for the victim. They have been relieved by a special police team that specializes in searching in and around the water.
The terraces at the pavilion were full when the man disappeared into the water, says reporter Mathijs Renkema. “People saw the man go beyond the buoys that indicate the ‘safe zone’. That is a part of ten to fifteen meters out of the side, where you can still stand. Then it quickly gets deeper, to 38 meters. it’s freezing and freezing cold there and that makes it very dangerous to swim there.”