Hope of finding a 13-year-old boy and his 10-year-old brother alive, after they slipped off rocks into rapids at Manitoba’s Nutimik Lake on Saturday, is fading, RCMP say.
“It’s pointing in that direction. We obviously don’t ever want to lose out hope on anything, but all indications is that folks did see the boys go under the water and did not resurface,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Cory Meyers on Monday.
Police were called just after 12:30 p.m. Saturday after Aaron Au Ramirez, 13, and Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, fell into the fast-moving rapids near Sturgeon Falls.
The younger boy had slipped off rocks into the rapids and the older boy tried to save him, Meyers said.
“Both ended up getting caught in the current and getting washed down the falls.”
Search efforts since Saturday have turned up some items of clothing believed to belong to the older boy, but no other signs, Meyers said.
The brothers and their father were with friends and other kids on a day trip from Winnipeg to visit Whiteshell Provincial Park and do some fishing, said Allison Baker-Thiessen, who owns Nutimik Lodge with her husband, Harry Thiessen.
The mom had stayed behind in the city with the couple’s four-year-old child, Baker-Thiessen said.
The eastern Manitoba community has been rallying for the family since the tragedy.
“Everybody here is right beside them, supporting them as much as possible to help them out through this. But it’s definitely challenging times,” Baker-Thiessen said.
“It’s devastating, absolutely, absolutely devastating what is going on. You hold it together for the family and try not to break down in front of them, but you definitely have moments where you just gotta let it out.”
Baker-Thiessen said her husband was among the first to search in a boat after they were contacted by Manitoba Parks conservation officers.
“Our boat is always in the waterway, and sometimes Conservation is out doing calls and not very close,” she said.
“[I] hung up the phone, I looked at my husband and I just said, ‘Boat now,’ and he knew what he had to do.”
Harry was soon joined by other boaters, along with the RCMP’s underwater recovery team and the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team, or HEART.
“The community is amazing. Anybody that was on the waterways was banding together, and I think we had about 20 to 25 boats out on the water the very first day,” Baker-Thiessen said.
The RCMP also searched from the air with drones, but the boys have yet to be found.
Private boaters and the authorities were out again Sunday and again Monday.
“They’re not going to stop until we can bring them home to their family,” Baker-Thiessen said.
“It’s tremendously windy out today. This is going to be a challenging day for them out there …trying to keep the boat steady and still scan. But we’re all here. We’re all praying.”
Paul Maendel, the HEART dive team co-ordinator, said the water is choppy, which makes it difficult to get clear imaging on the sonar.
“It’s very challenging emotionally too, especially when you’re working with parents, [and] they’re feeling extremely helpless and vulnerable and not knowing what to expect. Without results as the hours go by, they’re feeling more and more discouraged.”
The bottom of the lake, which is nearly 22 metres deep in some places, is also “very challenging,” he said.
“There are a lot of rocks and anomalies to check out,” which means even if the sonar scans a body, searchers might not recognize the image right away, Maendel said.
“So, it’ll take a while yet to scan the area, but we’ll keep at it.”
Regardless of the equipment searchers have, sometimes they’re at the whim of Mother Nature “to give them back,” he said.
“We need a miracle at this point in time.”
Meyers said searchers are going back over some of the previously searched areas and re-scanning to get different angles, trying for better imaging.
Nutimik Lodge is giving the family a place to stay on the property and have privacy while the search continues. People in the area have been dropping off food for the family, Baker-Thiessen said.
She and her husband have also started a fundraiser on the website GoFundMe to help the family.
Beautiful but dangerous
Sturgeon Falls is a wide set of rapids between Nutimik and Numao lakes, which are wide parts of the Winnipeg River, about 135 kilometres east of Winnipeg and near the Manitoba-Ontario border.
A 4.5-kilometre trail leads from the Nutimik campground and across a suspension bridge to the falls.
But the falls themselves are “extremely dangerous,” said Baker-Thiessen, who wants something done to prevent people from getting too close.
“It is a gorgeous hike to go on, and we cannot reiterate it enough: Do not go near the water’s edge. You can stand, you can stare, you can look at it, but the worst place to be is on the rocks,” she said.
“It’s high turbulence water. It’s dangerous.”
If adults with children take the hike, “We tell them, do not leave those kids out of your hands. Don’t let a child run and play in that water,” Baker-Thiessen said.
“We’ve owned this lodge for five years, and every year there’s been a situation there.”
A 38-year-old woman drowned at the same location in June 2025, and a 12-year-old boy drowned there in May 2023.
“We need something up there to keep those people away from there, but still be able to enjoy that beautiful waterway,” Baker-Thiessen said, calling it “a gorgeous place to stand and enjoy the sunset.”
Some people would likely complain about the view if fencing was installed, but it could also make the difference in preventing another drowning, she said.
“How many times is enough? That waterway is taking too many lives.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the province said Manitoba Parks is currently reviewing safety measures in the area, but “there are a number of warning signs and cautions” posted near the falls.
Those include warnings about slippery or hidden rocks, strong currents and a steep drop-off, the spokesperson said.
