Body found in barrel in eastern Manitoba river

RCMP are investigating after twopeople found human remainsin a barrelin cottage country near Lacdu Bonnet, Man.,Wednesday morning.

George Knight, 69, told CBC News he and a neighbour, Richard,noticed alarge plastic drum with holes drilled into it banging against boatson the shoreline of the Lee River when they went to fix a dock around 10:30 a.m. CT Wednesday.

The men had noticedthe barrel floating in the area for a couple of weeks, so they decided to pull it out and pry it open, Knight said.

The two men were hit with a"one hell ofastench" when the barrel opened, Knight said. They found heavy industrial-type plastic inside.

"He gave me the plastic, and I started pulling it, and then I sort of lifted the plastic up in the air a little bit, and that's when I saw a butt and a belt and a pair of brown blue jeans," he said.

"I just said to Richard, 'Get the hmm out of the water,' because there was like grease stuff coming out of the barrel."

They immediately called the RCMP.

"Two officers came, and they were down there, and [one] started pulling the plastic out more, and I saw a foot in the bottom of the thing."

Eventually more than 10 RCMPcars responded to the scene, Knight said, including a diving unit.

Autopsy results are pending, RCMP said, andinvestigators are working to identify the body.

Police have not said whether the remains are those of a man or a woman,butKnight said he thought they were male.

Knightsaid the findwas veryout of character for Fisher Grove, situated on the Lee, a tributary of the Winnipeg River about 100 kilometres east of Winnipeg.

"You don't think of that type of crime in the country here, compared to in the city," said Knight, who has been summering in the area for 40 years.

Theareais quiet and secluded,and its residents are mostly retirees, he said.

"It was quite a traumatic day that we had yesterday," he said.

"It's hard to talk about. You don't know who the person is or what the circumstances are, but nobody deserves to go like that."