Drownings claim lives of 3 children in Manitoba in 4 days
A 23-month-old boy, 10-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy have died
Three children are dead after separate drownings in Manitoba over the past four days.
Two of them happened in the Island Lake communities of northern Manitoba while the third was in Portage la Prairie in the south.
A 23-month-old boy was found in the water of Island Lake around 3 p.m. on June 15 and taken to the nursing station in Garden Hill First Nation, RCMP said in a news release, adding he was in the care of older siblings at the time.
The boy was transported to hospital in Winnipeg but died on June 18.
The same day the boy died RCMP were called around 7:15 p.m. about a drowning in St. Theresa Point First Nation, about 14 kilometres across Island Lake from Garden Hill. The communities are about 465 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
A group of children were swimming when two 10-year-old girls swam out too far and started having difficulty, police said.
Both went under water but a bystander pulled one to safety. That girl was taken to the nursing station for treatment and has since recovered.
The other girl could not be found immediately but a First Nation safety officer with dive equipment located her in the water a short time later.
The girl was rushed to the nursing station, where she was pronounced dead.
"These deaths are incredibly tragic. These are small, tight-knit communities, and the impact of losing two young children is devastating," RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Julie Courchaine said.
The latest drowning happened Monday in a retention pond in Portage la Prairie.
A two-year-old boy was out with family members on a property near Old Bridge Road around 7:30 p.m. when he wandered away from the group, police say.
A short time later he was found in a retention pond near the residence.
The boy was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
RCMP continue to investigate the incident.
5 deaths in three weeks
Five young people have drowned in the province in just over three weeks.
A five-year-old girl drowned after wandering away from her home in Brochet, a remote fly-in community about 935 km northwest of Winnipeg on June 1.
When her family went looking for her, they found her in a nearby lake.
Meanwhile, a 12-year-old boy slipped and fell into the Winnipeg River at Sturgeon Falls in Whiteshell Provincial Park on May 27.
An RCMP underwater recovery team found the body of Usaid Habib around 1 a.m. on May 29.
Courchaine called it "very concerning" to have so many drowning incidents at any time, but ever more so with this only being the beginning of summer.
"My heart goes out to all these communities who are grieving," she said.