Winnipeg woman receives award for rescuing teens on Lake Manitoba
A Winnipeg woman is being honoured for her heroics after saving two teens last year on Lake Manitoba.
Renata Bandel is being recognized by the Carnegie Hero Fund by being awarded the Carnegie Medal.
The award is given to civilians in Canada and the United States who risk their lives to save or try to save another person.
Bandel was one of 18 people to receive the award and only one of two Canadians on the list.
"I was very excited and honoured to be receiving such a prestigious award. I never dreamed that that would happen," said Bandel.
She is receiving the award for her efforts in saving two 17-year-old girls at Lake Manitoba on June 3, 2020.
Bandel said is was a perfect day to be outside and she and her family went to Delta beach.
While there, she said three teenage girls decided to go into the water on a raft, noting they were all wearing life jackets.
"They got swept out towards the middle of the lake and could not paddle back against the strong winds and waves."
Bandel said one of the girls stayed on the raft and was eventually able to call 911.
"Two of the girls decided to try and swim towards shore rather than stay on the raft and they continued to get swept further and further from shore."
Bandel said while she was playing in the water with her family, she was told that someone was in the water calling for help.
"I sent my niece back to shore and swam towards the first girl. She was so relieved, but also terrified for her other two friends."
Bandel said she brought the girl back to shore where emergency crews had arrived.
However, Bandel said she couldn't just stand around waiting for emergency crews to find where the other girl was.
"I decided to go into the deep water and maybe see or hear her and then my sister caught my attention… I saw the little red dot."
She said she started swimming to the second girl, battling the wind and the choppy water, but was eventually able to reach her.
Bandel started to bring the second girl back to shore and that's when the RCMP water rescue boat came and they got on board, and went and found the third girl who was still floating on the raft.
"I'm so glad that I was in the right place at the right time."
One of the girls was taken to hospital and treated for hypothermia.
Bandel said she isn't sure what sparked her to jump to action, but she knew she had to help.
"I think it was pure adrenaline…I didn't notice the temperature (of the water), I didn't notice being tired, I didn't notice anything. I just locked in on the girls and swam to them."
The Carnegie Medal has been given out to more than 10,000 people and the award is given out four times a year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.