The water there is very cold year-round, and area residents were quoted as saying that conditions on the lake were notoriously changeable and had been particularly poor that afternoon, with driving rain and waves that could easily overwhelm a small vessel such as a canoe.

Tollie Bay is a short distance from the village of Poolewe where Dr. Madders had lived for the last few years with Daniel’s mother, Christine Cain, and when the pair didn’t return home on time, she went down to the loch to look for them and found their overturned canoe on the shore around 4:30 p.m.

The Stornoway coastguard rescue helicopter was scrambled shortly afterwards and located the missing pair by 5:30pm. Although reports indicated that both father and son were alive when found, they were pronounced dead when they arrived at the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway after being airlifted across The Minch to the Outer Hebrides. Christine was left with the heartbreaking task of identifying their bodies.

Nick Thompson, manager of the Loch Maree hotel, was quoted as saying "I warned off three other kayakers on Sunday – the waves were 3ft high. It was dangerous conditions, there were white caps everywhere. A lot of people just don't know the loch. It can change quickly and become very treacherous suddenly." He also noted that a father and daughter had been lucky to escape with their lives three weeks earlier when their canoe capsized. Fortunately they had been able to swim to the shore.