Family, community mourn couple who died in Lynn Lake fishing accident

It took two weeks to find the body of Philip Rodgers after he died with his partner, Diana Colomb, in a fishing accident in northern Manitoba, and that delay made his death especially difficult for the family, his daughter says.

Rodgers, 61, of Lynn Lake, and Colomb, 30, were fishing on Cockeram Lake on Oct. 15 when their boat capsized. Colomb's body was found the next day, but Rodgers's wasn't discovered until Oct. 30.

"Nobody would ever expect to lose their parents like this ever, and nobody should ever have to," said Priscilla Rodgers, 31, the eldest of his children.

Rodgers, who was originally from Newfoundland, moved to the northern Manitoba community of Lynn Lake in the early 1990s where he worked as a transport driver and an operator of heavy equipment.

He had 10 children, with five kids ranging in age from two to 13 who were still under his care. 

"We've all been very shocked," she said. "It's very tragic and devastating."

Rodgers says she has fond memories of her dad, who was upbeat and loved to joke.

"He really enjoyed being a dad," she said. "That was definitely his No. 1 passion … being a dad and loving his children. He loved children, that's why he had so many. He had a lot and he was very kind and very generous."

Her father was a big part of his community and loved the outdoors, Rodgers recalled. 

"I spent a lot of time with him, even when I was like a baby — going to work with him and him … teaching us like survival skills, like taking us camping and fishing."  

Family finds Colomb's body

Colomb was mother to three of Rodgers's youngest children. 

The night of the accident in mid-October, her father and Colomb were checking their fishing nets, which they frequently did, but the weather wasn't great, Rodgers says.

She was in Thompson when she got a call at 9 p.m. from her brother, who was watching the young siblings, saying the couple hadn't returned.

Another sibling called RCMP to alert them but were told it was too late to search, she said.

Around 3 a.m., several family members gathered to search for the two. The group located Colomb's body, then called RCMP.

For days, Priscilla says, she and her sisters stayed on the shore of Cockeram Lake while search parties looked for Rodgers's body.

"I was out there for 15 days," she said. "I slept out there. … I was there making sandwiches, and we had lots of help. The community really came together."

Members of both Lynn Lake and Marcel Colomb First Nation communities took part in the search. 

One day, Priscilla recalls, there were 13 boats patrolling the lake. 

 'Overwhelming sense of relief'

On Oct. 28, a volunteer Hutterite dive team based in southern Manitoba arrived in Lynn Lake to help with search efforts.

For three days, the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) searched in the icy waters. They broke up ice forming on the lake so they could scan the waters, said Paul Maendel, the dive team's co-ordinator.

Fortunately, he says, winds picked up, pushing the broken ice out of the way and making the search easier. 

The team found the body on Oct. 30 using a remote-operated vehicle that captures high-resolution video to quickly scan the water .

Maendel said the discovery finally gave family the chance to mourn.

"The reaction was an overwhelming sense of relief," he said. "They had been through quite a bit of pain and suffering for over two weeks."

David Campbell, Lynn Lake's newly elected mayor, said it's been a "trying time" for the community. He knew the family quite well.

"I know the kids, the grandchildren, everybody," he said. "They were feeling it pretty hard, especially the younger kids."

"It's hard to explain the emotion you go through when something like this does happen."

Campbell says the community of about 500 residents is like a close-knit family, so everyone is feeling the pain of the loss. 

Rodgers says the community has actively supported her and her family since the tragedy. She's now focused on keeping the family together as they heal.

Family members are currently taking care of the five young children.

"[I'm] making sure our family stays close and making sure the younger ones are very well looked after and loved the way our dad would want them to be," she said.