The community of Pelican Narrows is in mourning today, after a house-fire over the weekend claimed the lives of two young boys.
RCMP Sergeant Craig Cleary says the blaze broke out on Saturday morning.
Pictures of the fire show the house completely gutted, with just one corner of the structure barely standing.
In addition to the deaths of the two boys, Cleary says the blaze also sent a 10 year-old girl to hospital with burns:
“There’s also another female that was sent to Flin Flon with burns and has since been transported onward to Winnipeg.”
The girl’s mother was also slightly injured in the fire and is in Winnipeg with her daughter.
The two boys who perished in the fire were believed to be 9 and 10 years old.
PBCN councillor Francis Highway says they were the nephews of the lady who owned the home, and were apparently at the house for a sleep-over.
The cause of the blaze is not certain, but Highway notes many of the houses on the reserve are quite old:
“Well it’s always hard when things like that happen in our community. In regards to our housing we have old buildings, we have a housing program that’s been capped, no upgrading of the houses and that one was about 40 to 50 years old.”
He adds they have begun holding radio fund-raisers on the reserve for the families.
Autopsies on the bodies of the two boys are set to be performed today.