Boy who fell into river released from hospital

A 10-year-old boy rescued from Winnipeg's Red River on Saturday is out of hospital but the body of his six-year-old brother has yet to be recovered.

The boys, Ralph Chartrand and his younger brother Nathaniel Thorassie, were playing hockey during the afternoon on the river's thin ice when they fell through.

Chartrand, 10, was rescued by a teenager who happened to be driving past the area, near the Disraeli Bridge in the city's North Point Douglas neighbourhood.

Kole Devisscher, 16, grabbed a tow rope out of the back of his truck and threw one end out to the boy, but Chartrand's hands were too cold to grip it, so Devisscher made a lasso and roped him in.

Rescue crews worked into Saturday night trying to locate Nathaniel, but had to call off the search when it became too dark.

The Winnipeg Police Service dive team ventured back into the water at about 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Sgt. Rob Riffel, who heads the dive unit and was in the frigid water, said police think they know approximately where the boy's body is but there is no visibility under the surface.

He described the recovery effort as "black water diving," which is akin to working with your eyes closed because of zero visibility.

But Riffel said they will keep searching until Nathaniel's body is found or the police are satisfied nothing more can be done. The dive unit had called off Monday's effort by 6 p.m. CT when it was dark.

The unit trains for summer and winter diving, but not for the in-between state the river is in now, he said.