An Island Lake RCMP detachment clerk saved the lives of two young boys on June 24, on what was supposed to be a relaxing day off at the lake.

Melody Harper was with her 12-year old daughter Kalvina, when she spotted the children on a rock near the water’s edge. Harper saw one of the children fall into the water, and she sped to the location.

With no road or path to the water, Melody and Kalvina ran through the bush to reach the children, when they arrived they saw two bodies floating face-down in the water.

Melody sprung in to action, handing her phone to her daughter and telling her to call for help, and then jumped in to the water and swam to the children.

“I told my daughter to call my brother, because he was the only person that I knew that would be close by,” said Harper.

Melody first reached a four-year old boy in the water and pulled him to shore and handed him to her daughter, she then swam back out to pull a three-year old boy from the water and get him on the shore.

The four-year old became conscious on shore after being pulled from the water, but the three-year old was not breathing, and Harper administered artificial respiration until her brother and two men from the community arrived.

“I’m not CPR trained or anything like that,” said Harper, “but at that point I was acting purely on instincts.”

The three men took carried the children up to the road where they were picked up and rushed to the local nursing station. The four-year old was cared for and released, the three-year old was airlifted to Winnipeg where he has since been released.

No adults were in the area where the children fell in to the water, and it appears as though the two boys had wandered off from family members.

“You know how little boys are,” said Harper, “they’re so fast, it’s not hard for them to just wander off.”