Body of missing 4-year-old girl found in pool in Shannon, Que.

Quebec provincial police have found the body of a four-year-old girl who went missing Sunday evening in a town northwest of Quebec City.

The body of the young girl from Shannon, Que., was found in a neighbour's pool shortly before 1 a.m. Monday, police said.

Lifesaving manoeuvres were performed at the scene, but the girl's death was later confirmed in hospital.

Police and volunteers had been searching the area for hours after the girl was reported missing around 5 p.m. Sunday.

The canine unit and a Canadian Armed Forces helicopter assisted in the search.

"There is an investigation going on to establish the circumstances of this sad event," Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Marie-Michelle Moore said Monday morning.

A crime scene technician is investigating today in collaboration with the coroner's office.

The cause of death has not yet been confirmed, and criminal charges have not yet been ruled out in the case.

So far this year, 68 people in Quebec have drowned this year, according to the Lifesaving Society, more than the entire 2019 season. At the same point last year, 47 people had drowned.

The majority of those deaths were preventable, said Raynald Hawkins, the executive director of the Lifesaving Society's Quebec chapter.

"No parent wants to receive this reality … especially when it is in a backyard pool of the neighbours or inside your house," he said.