Paramedics rushed to Jean-Drapeau Park Wednesday morning after an unconscious child was found in the water at the beach.

Around 10:45 a.m. the five-year-old boy was pulled from the water by lifeguards, who performed CPR until more medical help arrived and rushed the boy to hospital.

He was swimming with 63 other children from his day camp, and there were several other day camps at the beach at the same time.

"We ask the groups, the adults, the supervisors of the group to form an 'O' and the children have to play inside that 'O', that circle, so they are supervised by adults all the time," said Jean-Drapeau Park spokesperson Nathalie Lessard. "It's one of the adults who found the child unconscious in the water."

The adult got the attention of a lifeguard.

"The lifeguard on (site) transported him out of the water did some first aid manoeuvres," said Const. Danny Richer of the Montreal police. "He was rapidly transported to hospital by paramedics."

Bob Lamle of Urgences Santé said the boy may have been in the water for up to eight minutes before being spotted.

He was revived and stopped breathing twice before being revived a third time at hospital.

As of 2:15 p.m., he was listed as being in critical condition.

Witnesses say the boy was at the beach with a large day camp group.

"Everyone come off the water and we saw people, employees run," said witness Mylene Fecteau.

His parents were notified and they both went to the hospital

Officials immediately closed the beach as police questioned witnesses, lifeguards, and others.

Commonly called Dore Beach, the stretch of sand and playgrounds is at the southern tip of Ile Notre Dame, next to a man-made inbound lake that is surrounded by the Gilles-Villeneuve racetrack.

The beach's guidelines dictate that children in the swimming area must always be accompanied by an adult, with one adult for every child under two years old, and one adult for every three children under seven years old.

As required by the park, the day camp in question had a total of 64 children between the ages of two and seven and 21 adults.

In the 20 years that the beach at Jean-Drapeau Park has been open, an incident like this has never occurred. The park said Wednesday, like every day, all the ratios of lifeguards to swimmers were respected.

"The reglement national de securite dans les bains publique imposes for every 125 metres of beach, one lifeguard. So basically, we had five zones open this morning and six lifeguards and three assistant lifeguards, so we had plenty of people around," said Lessard.

The park said some of the lifeguards are shaken by the incident.

"They're not doing very well. We have people from the CLSC that are here today and also from the (Lifesaving Society) to talk to them," said Lessard.

Safety policies will be revised.