Four missing teens who’d gone tubing Sunday were safely found after hours of searching by Manitoba RCMP – including the canine unit, divers, search and rescue personnel, a drone, emergency responders and local farmers on the ground on ATVs and in the air in a crop duster.
The RCMP issued a news release today reminding Manitobans heading out on the water to tell someone where they’re going, the route they plan to take and to recognize that water is unpredictable and that “a floatie is not a life jacket; a floatie will not save your life if you get into trouble on the water.”
On Sunday just before midnight, Prairie Mountain RCMP received a report of three females and a male — ages 16 and 17 — who’d gone tubing down Shell River, north of Inglis, Man. without telling anyone, and had not yet returned.
RCMP HANDOUT PHOTO
Youth who went tubing on the Shell River, north of Inglis, Man., were eventually found safe after an extensive drone and thermal-imaging search of the area.
Police located two of their vehicles at Inglis Beach and on Provincial Road 589 at the bridge. It was believed they would have started tubing at Provincial Road 589 with the goal being to end up at Inglis Beach. At approximately 4 a.m., the drone located three youths along the river through thermal imaging. They were not physically injured. The fourth youth, a 16-year-old girl, was still missing. The drone found the deflated pink flamingo tube she had been using, about a kilometre up the river from where the others were located.
Officers drove around the area with sirens on, and the fourth missing youth came out of the bush to the sound of the siren at approximately 9:30 a.m. She had minor physical injuries and was transported to hospital.
None of the youths had been wearing life jackets or personal floatation devices, and it appears that alcohol was involved.
RCMP HANDOUT PHOTO
Police are reminding Manitobans that floaties aren’t substitutes for life jackets.
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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