The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police “E” Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on April 13, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
Manitoba RCMP say the body of a missing 71-year-old fisherman from Buffalo Point First Nation has been recovered from Lake of the Woods.
The Winnipeg Police Service underwater recovery team located the man on December 19, after assisting with the search. The RCMP’s own underwater team was already deployed on another operation in Grand Rapids and was unavailable at the time.
The man was first reported missing on the evening of December 16 after failing to return from ice fishing. RCMP said he had travelled earlier that day by side-by-side to his fishing shack, located about five kilometres north of the Buffalo Point Marina.
Initial search efforts were limited due to poor weather, low light, and areas of open water on the ice. The following morning, RCMP Search and Rescue used a drone to conduct an aerial search, locating tracks leading from shore to the fishing shack and onward to a pressure ridge.
Investigators believe the side-by-side broke through the ice at the pressure ridge, trapping the driver inside the vehicle.
