Red Cross flying water into Shamattawa after treatment plant failure

Bottled water is being flown in to supply the remote northern community of Shamattawa First Nation after a failure at the water treatment plant.

The Red Cross is flying 14,000 litres of bottled water to the community from Thompson. Shamattawa is about 745 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and 361 kilometres northeast of Thompson.

The water flown up on Friday will supply enough drinking and cooking water for community members for three days, the Red Cross said in a news release.

No information about what led to the water treatment plant failure has been released.

Shamattawa Chief Eric Redhead declined an interview request from CBC News, referring all questions to the statement released by the Red Cross.