Police divers continued their search Saturday for a man who went into the Red River on Friday prompting a rescue attempt by the captain of a water taxi who then suffered a heart attack.
An off-duty police officer spotted the man water near the Provencher Bridge around 2 p.m. on Friday, police said. He got the attention of the water taxi and directed it to the man.
While trying to pull the man out of the water, the captain suffered a heart attack, said Gordon Cartwright, owner of Splash Dash.
"He's still in intensive care," said Cartwright on Saturday. "But he's talking, he's coherent. He's going to have a good recovery and that's the main thing."
Cartwright said Al Smith, 65, has been a captain for two years and took the job after retiring from Air Canada.
All of the river service’s captains take water rescue training, said Cartwright.
Smith threw a life preserver out, trying to help male in distress in the water and then experienced chest pains, said Cartwright.
He estimates between six and eight passengers were on the boat at the time and they alerted the river patrol who came to help Smith.
Before they arrived, one female passenger performed CPR on Smith as he was having the heart attack.
Cartright said if it wasn't for her, the outlook for Smith's recovery might not be so optimistic.
"We'd like to find out who she is. We haven't found her yet," said Cartwright. "Please give us a call. We'd like to thank you in person and Al would like to do that too."
Paramedics got Smith out of the boat at the Alexander Docks and took him to St. Boniface Hospital, where he is in stable condition, Cartwright said.
The man in the water still has not been located and members of the police dive unit continued the search Saturday.
The man in the water was not a passenger on the boat, Cartwright said.
- with a report from Alesia Fieldberg
