Coast guard rescues kids adrift in dinghy on Lake Winnipeg

A girl and boy needed to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard on Lake Winnipeg Saturday, after strong winds blew their inflatable dinghy far from the Gimli shore.

It happened just days after the union that represents coast guard employees revealedthe federal government plans to close the stationin Gimli, as well as ones on theRed River in Selkirk, Man., and on Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ont.

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"They weren't able to paddle back into shore. They were drifting away quite quickly," saidJeffMacDonald, theofficer-in-charge at the coast guard station inGimli.

"They were too far for somebody to try to swim after them."

The girl is 10, the boy seven.MacDonald said the guard station received a call from the panicked fatheraround 2:15p.m.

They felt pretty helpless at the beach, that's for sure, when thatlittle rubber boat was drifting away.- JeffMacDonald

When his crew members reached the kids, they were close to 500 metres from shore. Neither was wearing a life jacket and one of them could not swim, according toMacDonald.

"With us being right here in the harbour, we were there within a couple minutes,"hesaid. "We got the kids out of the raft, got the raft [into the boat] and brought them back to the harbour safe and sound."

Tracy Martinsaw the coast guardrescue the kids and said it was extremely windy out that day.

"They wouldn't have lasted long if they capsized," said Martin, who spends her summers on Lake Winnipeg

Plan to shut down coast guard 'terrifying'

Martin worries about the federal government's plan to close the coast guard station in Gimli.

"There's many men and women that make their living on this lake as fishers that need to have a safety net if it gets bad out there."

"It's terrifying to think that you're going to be out there and not have help to rescue you if you need it."

Martin said the elated parents along with a cheering crowd were waiting at the dock and thanked the coast guard members.

"They were very grateful that we were here,"MacDonaldadded.

"They felt pretty helpless at the beach, that's for sure, when thatlittle rubber boat was drifting away."

He said there have been five search-and-rescue cases already this month as the weather has warmed and people haveflocked to the beach or headed out on the open water to fish.