Coast guard rescues kids adrift in dinghy on Lake Winnipeg

A girl and boy needed to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard on Lake Winnipeg Saturday, after strong winds blew their inflatable dinghy far from the Gimli shore.

It happened just days after the union that represents coast guard employees revealed the federal government plans to close the station in Gimli, as well as ones on the Red River in Selkirk, Man., and on Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ont.

• Coast guard pulls up anchor on Manitoba, northwestern Ontario waterways: union
• Coast guard presence 'vital to the safety of Manitobans,' Lifesaving Society says

"They weren't able to paddle back into shore. They were drifting away quite quickly," said Jeff MacDonald, the officer-in-charge at the coast guard station in Gimli.

"They were too far for somebody to try to swim after them."

The girl is 10, the boy seven. MacDonald said the guard station received a call from the panicked father around 2:15 p.m.

They felt pretty helpless at the beach, that's for sure, when that little rubber boat was drifting away.- Jeff MacDonald

When his crew members reached the kids, they were close to 500 metres from shore. Neither was wearing a life jacket and one of them could not swim, according to MacDonald.

"With us being right here in the harbour, we were there within a couple minutes," he said. "We got the kids out of the raft, got the raft [into the boat] and brought them back to the harbour safe and sound."

Tracy Martin saw the coast guard rescue the kids and said it was extremely windy out that day.

"They wouldn't have lasted long if they capsized," said Martin, who spends her summers on Lake Winnipeg 

Plan to shut down coast guard 'terrifying'

Martin worries about the federal government's plan to close the coast guard station in Gimli.

"There's many men and women that make their living on this lake as fishers that need to have a safety net if it gets bad out there."

"It's terrifying to think that you're going to be out there and not have help to rescue you if you need it."

Martin said the elated parents along with a cheering crowd were waiting at the dock and thanked the coast guard members.

"They were very grateful that we were here," MacDonald added.

"They felt pretty helpless at the beach, that's for sure, when that little rubber boat was drifting away."

He said there have been five search-and-rescue cases already this month as the weather has warmed and people have flocked to the beach or headed out on the open water to fish.