Police and emergency crews searching for a child who fell in the Red River near Rover Avenue and the Disraeli Freeway on Saturday afternoon.
Winnipeg police spokesperson Natalie Aitken said a 10-year-old boy was pulled from the river and taken to hospital in stable condition. However, a younger child was still missing hours later.
Crews searched in and around the river until well after dark.
"What started out as a fun event on a relatively nice winter day has quickly turned into tragedy," she said. "This event is absolutely heartbreaking..."
Kole Devisscher was driving by when he saw the child in the river at about 3:30 p.m.. He had a tow strap in his truck and threw it out to the child, who was struggling to get out of the water.
"As I came up, he had been in there quite a while, he couldn't even grab the tow strap I put out to him," Devissher said.
Devisscher managed to get the strap around the child and pull him out.
"As I got out there he told me his brother was somewhere else. He'd froze, he was dead and he was gone," Devisscher said.
Aitken told CTV News that the children were throwing chunks of ice and snow into the fast-moving river when the ice gave way and the two were thrown into the freezing water.
She said police want to remind the public to stay away from the water at this time of year.
