Family of boy who drowned in Sturgeon Falls in 2023 ‘furious’ at lack of safety enhancements

Three years later, a Manitoba couple’s sadness has turned to anger as they watch another family going through the same devastation they felt when their young son drowned in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Usaid Habib, 12, slipped off the rocks near Sturgeon Falls on Nutimik Lake in May 2023 and fell into the water. He was swept away into the rapids. 

His father, Muhammad Danish Habib, previously told CBC News the whole family was there and saw him drowning but couldn’t do anything for him.

“It just happened in a microsecond. He took his shoe off and touched the water, and he was swept away,” his mother, Urooj Danish, told CBC News this week, speaking publicly about his death for the first time.

“He was my life.”

CBC spoke to Danish before the body of a boy who recently fell into the water near the falls was recovered Wednesday night.

Aaron Au Ramirez, 13, and Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, had been staying at Nutimik Lodge since Saturday, when Maximo slipped off rocks into the fast-moving current. His brother jumped in after him, RCMP have said.

The search for the two boys, involving Manitoba RCMP’s underwater recovery team, the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team and volunteers in boats, began shortly after.

The body of Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, was found near the shore of Nutimik Lake on Wednesday. The search for his older brother continues. (Submitted by Allison Baker-Thiessen)

Maximo’s body was found near the lake’s shore, RCMP confirmed. 

“Now I’m more mad. I’m furious. Why has something not been done to prevent all of this?” Danish asked.

“We have already suffered. I don’t think anyone else needs to suffer.”

The weekend incident and the subsequent search is bringing back unwanted memories for Usaid’s parents.

“It feels like yesterday,” the boy’s father said.

“It just brings back all the memories, and even the shots and pictures of that specific moment back in my mind.”

The body of a 38-year-old woman was recovered from the same lake last year after she slipped off the rocks and fell into the current, RCMP said. 

Usaid’s parents say they are surprised at the lack of action taken to improve safety measures at the location since their son died three years ago. 

His mother hoped a barrier would be set up to prevent people from getting too close to the slippery rocks or that a lifeguard might be hired during the summer months, when most people go to the site. 

There is signage advising against swimming and diving off the rocks, which also include cautions about slippery or hidden rocks, a strong current and a steep drop-off, the province says. 

Danish feels this isn’t good enough, as her family wasn’t fully aware of the risks.

“Do you think kids read signs?” she asked. “Parents do … but we told them there was no plan to swim.”

Danish Habib suggests something could be put on the rocks to make them less slippery. He’d like to see the trail closed to prevent more tragedies until something has been done to improve the location’s safety.

“In this specific spot, we have seen so many tragedies in the past, and nothing has been done,” the father said.

“How many people you want to die before you [the provincial government] do something?”

“It’s already too late to do something, but do something so this never happens again.”

Mike Moyes, the provincial minister of environment and climate change, says he’s waiting on a site assessment report, expected to arrive at his desk in the coming days, before deciding on what safety improvements need to be made at the site.

“I would say that we need to make improvements. And so, we’re going to be looking at a whole variety of different updates, and those are all being considered with the site assessment and risk assessment,” he said. 

Moyes says they’ve had discussions about adding a barrier to the area and that it’s part of their “assessments,” though no decisions have been made yet. 

“I can’t make a commitment to a report that I haven’t seen yet,” he said.

“We’re focused on trying to support the, like I said, the RCMP and the first responders as best as we can until, you know, until a recovery is made.”

Usaid’s mother says he was kind, smart and supportive, and ‘just a normal child, full of life.’ (Submitted by Urooj Danish)

Usaid’s mother knows what the Au Ramirez brothers’ mom must be feeling.

“I know what she’s been going through,” Danish said. “You have no energy to even feel anything at this point. It’s devastating.”

Danish described her son as kind, smart and supportive, and said he was known to everybody in their community — often volunteering for the Manitoba Islamic Association and taking part in fundraisers.

“He was just a normal child, full of life,” she said. 

“This brings back every single thing that we don’t want to remember all the time, but we are helpless.”