Two men drown in separate incidents

WINNIPEG — Search and rescue teams have recovered the remains of two men who drowned in separate bodies of water in rural Manitoba on Saturday.

A 70-year-old swimmer from Ontario went missing at Reynold Ponds near Steinbach around 2 p.m.

Later in the day, emergency responders attended Grand Beach to look for a 25-year-old Winnipegger who was showing signs of distress on the water before he disappeared under Lake Winnipeg.

Mounties released details surrounding the two fatalities, which took place in the rural municipalities of Reynolds and St. Clements, respectively, in a news release.

“Two incidents on Saturday ended in tragedy in what was supposed to be a fun weekend for all these people that were involved,” said Michelle Lissel, a media relations officer for the RCMP.

Loved ones, as well as first responders and anyone who participated in the search efforts, will all be affected by these deaths, Lissel said.

She issued a reminder to all beachgoers to practise water safety, regardless of how comfortable they are on and in the water.

“Life-jackets are very important. Even if you are a strong swimmer, conditions can always be unpredictable,” Lissel said.

Bystanders told Steinbach RCMP that a senior had gone for an afternoon swim in a pond roughly 80 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg when he suddenly did not resurface.

It was around 8 p.m. in Grand Marais when the Selkirk detachment was alerted about a different water-related emergency on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg.

The Manitoba RCMP Underwater Recovery Team was deployed in both cases.

The RM of St. Clements, which encompasses Grand Beach Provincial Park, dispatched its entire emergency response department, including two search vessels late Saturday.

“We were trying to comb the waters last night with a big, massive grid search. That was basically the response for five hours,” said Tyler Freeman, manager of protective services for the rural municipality.

Freeman called the outcome — a 1 a.m. discovery of a 25-year-old — “beyond tragic.”

The emergency co-ordinator said the adult who was in distress had drifted outside a buoy line marking the designated swim zone.

RCMP reported that two men had taken a pool flotation device onto Lake Winnipeg when they lost their balance and fell into the water.

One man was rescued by a nearby kayaker, but the other did not resurface, as per a police report.

STARS Air Ambulance confirmed it attended to the scene and transported one patient to Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre in stable condition.

Beachgoer Rhonda Funk recalled hearing sirens shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday, just before the beach was evacuated. Her husband was among the volunteers who searched the waterways over the weekend.

“I wish Grand Beach had the (life-jacket) lending posts like other beaches … It would make it safer for those who are not familiar with water or can’t swim,” Funk said.

Manitoba Parks visitors can borrow life-jackets through a loan program run at Birds Hill, Clearwater, Hecla, St. Malo and Spruce Woods, among other locations.

For Freeman, who oversees three fire departments in St. Clements, what happened at Grand Beach on Saturday is a tragic reminder of just how dangerous water can be.

“Ultimately, it’s just a very, very sad thing,” Freeman said, adding his thoughts are with the man’s loved ones and with first responders who were on the scene.

The 25-year-old was visiting the beach, a popular long-weekend destination, with a group of roughly 10 people, he said.

A recent analysis of drownings in Manitoba shows more than a third of such incidents take place in lakes or ponds.

The 2025 report, compiled by Drowning Prevention Research Centre Canada, shows men are far more likely to drown than women.

Men accounted for eight in 10 deaths between 2018 and 2022, the most current five-year dataset available via the chief medical examiner’s office.

During that period, 44 per cent of fatalities happened when an individual was either wading into the water or actively swimming.

Just over a quarter of all victims were between the ages of 20 and 34.

Seven people have drowned in Manitoba so far this year, an RCMP spokesman said Sunday.

The latest drownings took place one week after the Lifesaving Society Manitoba’s annual, weeklong water safety awareness campaign. The 2025 initiative promoted the importance of never leaving children alone near water, boating sober and wearing life-jackets.

» Winnipeg Free Press