Winnipeg police unit helps recover missing man's body from Lake of the Woods

The body of a missing Buffalo Point First Nation man has been recovered in Lake of the Woods with assistance from a special unit of the Winnipeg Police Service.

The RCMP's under recovery team was in Grand Rapids, Man., on another operation, which prompted the call to Winnipeg police for their URT, according to a news release issued by the Mounties on Tuesday.

The man, who had been heading to his ice fishing shack, about five kilometres north of the Buffalo Point marina, was reported missing to Sprague RCMP just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 16, police said in a previous news release.

Unable to search safely that night, Mounties searched the following morning using a drone, and found tracks from the man's side-by-side all-terrain vehicle leading to a fishing shack, and then from the shack to a pressure ridge on the ice.

It is believed the man was trapped in his side-by-side when it plunged through the ice. Sprague RCMP continue to investigate.