A Manitoba man has drowned at Madge Lake in eastern Saskatchewan after jumping into the water to save a child.
Kamsack RCMP said Friday afternoon that the body of Dallas Miller, 29, was recovered by the underwater recovery team.
Officers from the detachment were called to Pelican Point on Madge Lake the day before with a report of a drowning.
Miller and two women were on the water, along with five children, RCMP said. One of the children was playing in the water by the ladder of the boat and was pulled away by wind and waves.
RCMP say Miller jumped in to help the eight-year-old child, but he was also pulled away from the boat.
The two women threw life-jackets into the water but could not reach the child or Miller.
One of the women then jumped into the water and Miller was able to push the child to her.
The father of two, from Benito, Man., went under the water and did not resurface. His body was recovered Friday evening.
Pastor Lyle Penner said he was a "loving father and husband, just a very kind and compassionate young man."
He'd known Miller his whole life, through the Church of God and Christ Mennonite in Manitoba's Swan River Valley.
Funeral services will be held for Miller at the church, he said.
"It's pretty typical for a person to ask why, or what," said family friend Jasmin Isaac. "But the first thing that hit me pretty hard about it was, wow, he was brave.
"It sounds like he didn't even second-guess anything and he just [thought] 'oh, that child needed help' and he was willing to risk everything and just go."
Isaac said Miller leaves behind a wife and two young sons.
Penner said it wasn't his child that he rescued.
"It's very much like him to do something like this," the pastor said.
Police said with the recovery of Miller's body, the investigation now falls to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service.
Madge Lake is located about 370 kilometres east of Saskatoon, and about 30 kilometres south of Benito, Man.
Editor: Yuan Yue