RCMP respond to two drownings in northern Manitoba

An undated file image of an RCMP vehicle. (CTV News)

Mounties are urging people to be cautious walking on frozen lakes and waterways following two separate drownings in northern Manitoba.

The first happened on Saturday morning at around 1:20 a.m. Officers got a call from a First Nations Safety Officer that someone had fallen through the ice on the Nelson River in Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation.

Officers, joined by the First Nations Safety Officers and the local fire and rescue crew, found a woman lying on her back on the ice with her feet in the water.

“She could not move further as she feared the ice would break underneath her,” police said in a release.

The rescue proved to be difficult. An officer tried crawling out on the ice, but it began to crack. It took two attempts by a local firefighter in a dry suit to reach the woman who was then pulled to shore.

Police said the 72-year-old woman was showing signs of hypothermia and was taken to hospital. There, she told police she had been walking on the ice with another 44-year-old man.

Police began a search, finding his body a day later.

The second drowning happened on Sunday at around 1:20 a.m. in Pimicikamak Cree Nation. Police said a First Nations Safety Officer came across footprints on the shore leading to open water.

Officers and emergency crews joined the search, ultimately finding the body of a 47-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the community’s nursing station.

“The RCMP would like to urge caution to those attempting to walk on or cross waterways that appear to be frozen,” police said in a release. “Although we are already into the third week of November, the very mild fall temperatures experienced throughout the province, has resulted in a very slow freeze.”

It noted the freeze-up has started on most waterways in the north, but said not all are safe to be on.

The RCMP said it is still investigating both cases.