Body found in Red River near where a Winnipeg teenager went missing
CBC News | Posted: August 18, 2017 2:54 PM | Last Updated: August 18, 2017
Dive teams have been searching for 16-year-old swimmer who disappeared in river Tuesday
A body was pulled from the Red River near the area a teenager was last spotted struggling to swim earlier this week.
Dive teams had been searching the Red River since Tuesday for a teenage boy who disappeared while swimming across it.
Police spokesman Const. Tammy Skrabek said the identity of the body could not be confirmed yet, but it was found "in the same area of the boy that went missing the other day."
Police were called to the Red River, north of the Harry Lazarenko Bridge, formerly called the Redwood Bridge, around 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 15.
A witness told police the boy swam halfway across the river before he disappeared.
Winnipeg police said the teen was 16. His name has not been made public.
The search stalled Friday morning because of a thunderstorm, but just before 9 a.m. a person spotted something in the water and called police, Skrabek said.
"A citizen in the area reported seeing, possibly, somebody floating in the water," she said.
Fire crews and the police river patrol found the body in the water near St. John's Park.
Skrabek said there will need to be an autopsy and medical exam before the identity of the body can be confirmed.
Drag The Red, a volunteer group that searches for bodies in the Red River, was asked by the family to help with the search, as was the Bear Clan Patrol.
Patrol co-founder James Favel said volunteers had been searching for the missing teen for two days.
"It's horrible. I mean yesterday there was a vigil for Tina Fontaine and today we are pulling a body out of the river again, another young man lost. It's horrible," he said.
Fontaine was 15 when she disappeared in August 2014. Her body was found near the docks on Aug. 17, 2014.
Members of the search groups who had taken part in the search held a small ceremony near the shore after the body was found.
"It's a very emotional day right now," Favel said.
While police have yet to confirm the identity of the body, it's important the family has support, Point Douglas MLA Bernadette Smith said after the ceremony.
As well, she added: "To also know that his spirit is going up to be with the Creator and he is going to be taken care of, and there are so many people that care about him."
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