A 58-year-old Manitoba man drowned on Christmas Eve after his skid-steer loader fell through the ice in a pond in a rural community southeast of Winnipeg.
Firefighters and emergency divers took three hours Tuesday to extricate a man who was trying to remove snow from his pool at his home in Steco County. Annie.
He was inside a skid steer when it fell through the ice around 1:30 p.m., said Jean-Claude Normandeau, fire chief of the neighboring municipality of La Broquerie.
The man's family was present during the search, which was conducted by about 18 emergency-response personnel, Normandeau said.
“It was very difficult to leave the scene seeing the family in that situation,” he said in an interview.
A dead body at the bottom of a pond
Authorities called in the non-profit Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team, or HEART, which is dedicated to recovering the bodies of drowning victims.
Hart initially sent a diver into the pool to try to find the man, said Paul Mendel, who coordinates the dive team and serves as its vice president.
Divers found the skid-steer upright at the bottom of the pool, but Mendel said the driver was no longer in the cab. He added that the door was opened from the inside.
Hriday, which is equipped with imaging and robotics, then uses a remotely operated vehicle to search for humans.
At 4:30 p.m., his body was found about 10 meters from the skid steer, Mendel said.
“All of our calls are fatal so we know there's not going to be a good outcome,” he said in an interview.
RCMP Sergeant Paul Manaigre confirmed the death of the 58-year-old property owner.
Be aware of icy conditions
Roberto Hibbert, a councilor in the nearby municipality of Hanover, asked for privacy on behalf of the deceased's family.
“This tragic situation will affect them deeply for years to come, as it has done to the community around them.” Hiebert said via email. “These are lovely and important times of the year for us in the Southeast.”
Mendel urged anyone considering driving a vehicle on ice to take extra precautions and consider the conditions.
“What you need to know is the condition of the ice and it can be different under the snow layer,” Mendel said. “It can change from one day to the next, especially with mild weather.”
