Boats have been on the water of eastern Manitoba’s Nutimik Lake since 6 a.m. Wednesday, marking the fifth day of searching for two boys believed to have drowned near Sturgeon Falls.
Their family has been “overwhelmed with the support that they have going on to help bring their boys back home so they can have some closure,” said Allison Baker-Thiessen, who owns Nutimik Lodge with her husband, Harry Thiessen.
The family of brothers Aaron Au Ramirez, 13, and Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, have been staying on the property of the lodge since Saturday, when Maximo slipped off rocks into the fast-moving water. Aaron went in to try to save him, RCMP previously said.
The family are “hurting, they’re in pain, they’re in shock. There’s so many words that you could put with that. It’s indescribable,” Baker-Thiessen said.
“They just want them to come home.”
The RCMP’s underwater recovery team and the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team, or HEART, have been searching every day since the boys went in and failed to resurface.
They have been joined by numerous volunteers in boats.
“We had about 15 to 20 boats that went all the way from Otter Falls into our lake [on Tuesday],” Baker-Thiessen said.
In addition, RCMP are using a drone, HEART is using sonar to scan the lake bottom, and dozens of volunteers have been walking the shorelines.
‘We need a miracle’: Search continues for boys feared drowned in Manitoba lake
Others have been bringing food and other donations for the family, and dropping by the lodge just to offer a hug to whoever needs one. Others who have boats but aren’t at the lake right now have offered them up for others to use, Baker-Thiessen said.
“We are very grateful and pleased to be living in such a strong community.”
Private businesses have also shown up to do what they can, she said.
Submerged Underwater Services — a commercial diving and marine construction company based out of Winnipeg and Blumenort — was on hand Tuesday to descend for a closer look if sonar picked something up.
“They are on standby and they will come back if they need to do some [more] diving,” Baker-Thiessen said.
Turtle Island Aquatic Response, a specialized search-and-recovery team based out of Bunibonibee Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, is also involved.
“They stayed out until about 10 p.m. [Tuesday] … and they will be out on the waterway again today,” Baker-Thiessen said.
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She described her own feeling as “heavy.”
“It’s been exhausting. It’s been emotional,” but also uplifting to see the response, she said.
Her husband, Harry, was among the first on the water Saturday when the boys were swept away and has been out every day since.
“He’s kind of struggling a little bit. It’s kind of hard for him,” she said.
Last year, he and conservation officers found the body of a 38-year-old woman who drowned after slipping on rocks and being pulled by a strong current into Nutimik Lake, said Baker-Thiessen.
“So this brings back a tragic memory.”
