ÎYÂRHE NAKODA – A 61-year-old Calgary man is dead after falling through the ice and drowning in the Bow River near the bridge on Mînî Thnî Road.
Police were alerted to the incident by Nakoda Emergency Services fire and EMS around 2 p.m. on Dec. 25.
"RCMP believe at this time that the male was on the ice attempting to take a photo of the scenery in the area and then fell in," said RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Troy Savinkoff.
Without specialized equipment, including an inflatable boat that was called in from Cochrane and an ice rescue team from Canmore, first responders were unable to rescue the man due to the dangerously thin ice.
"That's what needed to happen before anybody could go out. I saw pictures of the ice area and it was very treacherous, thin ice out there," said Savinkoff.
On Dec. 26, a dive team recovered the man's body a short distance away from where he fell in.
RCMP advised against venturing out onto frozen rivers and lakes without first testing ice thickness, especially with warmer than average temperatures.
"That portion of the ice that's part of the Bow River, throughout the year it's fairly ill-advised to go out on that portion of the ice, and certainly with mild weather that we're experiencing right now, all ice surfaces should be tested prior to venturing on to them," said Savinkoff.
Ice should be at least 15 cm for a person to walk on, 20 cm for a group of people and 25 cm for a snowmobile or other off-highway vehicle, according to the Canadian Red Cross Society.
On Dec. 26, a family of three reported missing days earlier who were last believed to be using a UTV side-by-side, were found dead near a bridge on Alexis Nakoda Sioux First Nation west of Edmonton. Recovery of the Pelsma family, including Kelly Pelsma, 39, Laura Pelsma, 37, and Dylan Pelsma, 8, was conducted by members of Parkland RCMP, Lac Ste Anne County Fire Service and an underwater recovery team.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
