ManitobaThe bodies of two men were recovered from the water in northern Manitoba this weekend after separate drownings, and Manitoba RCMP urge the public to be careful when walking on waterways that appear to be frozen.Mounties urge caution to those trying to walk on waterways after slow freeze in mild fallCBC News · Posted: Nov 24, 2025 3:43 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A file picture of Pimicikamak Cree Nation from 2021. A 47-year-old man was pronounced dead after his body was pulled from the water in the community. He is one of 2 men who drowned in northern Manitoba this weekend. (Submitted by Kyle Scribe)The bodies of two men were recovered from the water in northern Manitoba this weekend after separate drownings, and Manitoba RCMP urge the public to be careful when walking on waterways that appear to be frozen.RCMP were first called early Saturday morning for reports that a person had fallen through the ice on the Nelson River in Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation, also known as Norway House Cree Nation.Mounties went to the community located over 450 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg where they found a woman lying on her back in the ice with her feet in the water, police said in a news release Monday. The woman, 72, could not move because she feared the ice would break underneath her, the release said. An officer crawled as far as he could toward her until the ice began to crack.”You’re looking at, you know, less than two inches of ice here probably, you know, just over an inch. It’s not enough to support 100-plus pounds,” Sgt. Paul Manaigre told CBC News.”You can’t go further without going in the water, so without putting yourself at risk you have to pull back a bit.”A firefighter then donned a dry suit and tried to reach the woman, but he also fell through the ice. People on shore threw a log in the water that both used to be pulled from the water, police said. The woman, who showed signs of hypothermia, was taken to hospital where she told staff there had been another person walking with her on the ice. Police said they believed that person, later identified as a 44-year-old man, was still in the water but they couldn’t find him with a drone search that day. First Nation safety officers, firefighters, local fishermen and additional volunteers found the man on Sunday just after 7:15 p.m., police said. His body was retrieved from the water and he was pronounced dead. Waterways not safe yet to be on: RCMPRCMP responded to a separate drowning in Pimicikamak Cree Nation over the weekend. First Nation safety officers alerted RCMP early Sunday morning that they had found footprints on the shore leading to open water in the community located about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg.Mounties, along with fire and rescue personnel, went to the location, where they found the body of a 47-year-old man with use of a drone. The man was later pronounced dead. RCMP say they continue to investigate both incidents. Mounties are urging the public to be cautious when crossing over water bodies that seem to be frozen. Manaigre said it is unusual for the RCMP to respond to drownings involving people who have fallen through the ice at this time of the year, but it has been a warm fall. “You need those –20 C, –30 C, you need that stretch to get that water freezing fast. We just haven’t had that,” he said. Most of the waterways in the south remain open while in the north, the freeze-up has just started and it is still not safe to be on the water, Mounties said in their news release.”We’re going to need several weeks of some cold weather just to get that ice thick enough, just to be to be safe to walk on,” Manaigre said.With files from Santiago Arias Orozco, Faith Fundal and Zubina Ahmed
2 men die in separate northern Manitoba drownings, woman rescued from thin ice
