Hunt for missing swimmer closes Pinawa Dam Provincial Park

A popular Manitoba summer tourist site is closed after a swimmer went missing on Monday.

RCMP were called to a section of the Lee River by the old dam site at Pinawa Dam Provincial Park at 6 p.m. Monday after reports of a possible drowning. 

An 18-year-old Winnipeg man was swimming on the high side of the dam with friends when he disappeared under the water, RCMP said. He wasn't wearing a life-jacket.

A Manitoba Sustainable Development spokesperson said the park, about 85 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, was closed Tuesday while an RCMP dive team prepared to search for the man.

The local fire department had a boat in the water as part of the search, but the RCMP dive team had yet to go in as of 4 p.m Tuesday, RCMP said.

"There are a lot of factors that determine when it is safe to dive. In particular right now, when there are currents and a dam, safety is a major concern," RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel wrote in an email.

Hannah Bihun says she and her partner were visiting the dam area of the park at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday when a small group of swimmers started yelling for help. 

Bihun says she believes a man went down rapids that people "treat as a slide." 

"We saw two of them on the bank yelling for help, calling their friend's name, and when we went over to ask what was going on they said he went under the water and he never came back up," she said.

"We were there for about half an hour and he never resurfaced."

Bihun says she called 911 and park officials arrived.

She says the area with rapids isn't safe for swimming.

"It's a super dangerous spot and people bring their kids there and you see eight-year-old kids jumping down these rapids," she said.

"I'm concerned because I think there is kind of a miscommunication in terms of the perception of safety there, because there are a lot of locals who have grown up their entire life going to this dam, so they know where to swim, they know how to get out, they know how to deal with the under-current. But it's also a tourist destination."

Bihun wants to see signs prohibiting swimming and warning of the dangers at the dam, or paid lifeguards stationed nearby in the event of an emergency.

"If they're going to be allowing people to swim there, there should be someone monitoring," she said.

"I think that there was some negligence on the part of the park not having proper signage and not having the buoys in place, and I think this could've been avoided."

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