The Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Mounted Police is reminding the public to be careful and keep their children in check when visiting the lake or going camping in the remaining weeks of summer. The advice is in connection to an incident where a child had allegedly gone missing while swimming in Pike Lake last month.
“It’s been quite warm this summer and with more people enjoying our beaches and lakes, we encourage adult supervision at all times of youth in or near the water. Youth should not swim in areas where there is no direct supervision for safety reasons,” said the Saskatchewan RCMP in a statement sent in response to an inquiry made by SASKTODAY.ca.
On July 17, Warman/Martensville RCMP received a call at around 4:30 p.m. that several witnesses saw a young person playing near the paddle boats right beside the Pike Lake beach. The witnesses went back to what they were doing and one of them, when she looked back, saw that the person was no longer near the flotation devices.
One of the witnesses thought the young person has gone underwater and called for help. A lifeguard on duty immediately dove under water to see if there was someone trapped under the paddle boats. Several other lifeguards arrived on the scene and joined in the search, including Pike Lake personnel.
Pike Lake personnel also called in the public that are on paddle boards, canoes, and paddle boats to return to the beach, so no other people are in the water while a search and rescue wasgoing to be conducted. Afterwards, Pike Lake management asked that campers and other visitors vacate the lake area as they continued to search for the supposedly missing person.
RCMP, Emergency Medical Services, Fire, Search and Rescue, beach patrol officers started arriving on the scene. Several canoes, rafts, and a boat — thinking that the young person was swept away by the current — were also used in conducting the search. Several Pike Lake personnel also searched a reed area near the beach, hoping to see the said young person.
Bystanders also offered to help in the search and rescue. The authorities and officials from the Pike Lake Provincial Park thanked those who offered to help, but asked that let them do their job and they would surely ask for additional people if needed.
The combined units of the RCMP, EMS, Fire, Search and Rescue, and beach patrol conducted an extensive search on land and water. The entire area, beach and water, was checked to make sure that nobody was under the water.
After a few hours, once authorities exhausted all efforts and made sure that no one was reported and believed to be missing, the search was called off. The Saskatchewan RCMP said that since July 17, they have not received any call or report of a missing person that was connected to the incident that took place in Pike Lake.
And with a lot of people witnessing the incident of having increased presence of emergency responders at Pike Lake on that day, Saskatchewan RCMP asked the public to immediately report any emergency.
“We do not want to discourage the public from contacting emergency services for incidents of this nature. In this instance, we are thankful no one required emergency assistance and it highlights the efforts undertaken by emergency personnel to ensure everyone is accounted for and safe.”
