3 children dead in separate drownings in Manitoba

Police say three children are dead after separate drownings in Manitoba last week.

Island Lake RCMP say officers responded to the nursing station for a report of a drowning Thursday around 4 p.m.

It was reported that a 23-month-old boy was found in the lake outside his home in Garden Hill First Nation. Police were told the child was in the care of older siblings at the time of the drowning.

The baby was brought to the nursing station and then transported to Winnipeg. He died of his injuries Sunday in hospital.

Also Sunday evening, around 7:15 p.m., Island Lake RCMP say they responded to an unrelated drowning in St. Theresa Point First Nation – about 15 kilometres away.

Police say a group of children was swimming when two 10-year-old girls “swam out too far and began having difficulty.”

A bystander managed to pull one of the girls to safety, police say. She was taken to the nursing station and has since recovered.

The second girl was not immediately found. A First Nation safety officer attended the scene with dive equipment and located the girl in the water. She was taken to the nursing station where she was pronounced dead.

Island Lake RCMP are investigating both incidents.

Meanwhile Portage la Prairie RCMP say a two-year-old boy wandered away from family members in Portage la Prairie and drowned in a retention pond Monday night.

The boy was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Portage la Prairie RCMP is investigating.