City police have first-hand knowledge of just how dangerous walking on the rivers can be: two officers fell through the ice on the Red River on Sunday.

The officers were searching for three young boys who were crossing the river near Chief Peguis Trail. While they did not find any evidence of the children falling through the ice, the officers themselves hit a thin patch and plunged into the river.

Winnipeg Police Inspector Jack Tinsley says the officers managed to crawl out of the frigid water and make it back to shore.

"The best advice is just stay off the river," he says. "There's too many places where there's an extremely fast current under the ice, the ice is thin or in some cases there's just plain open water and we don't advise anyone to go on the ice for any reason."

Tinsley says the only areas on the river are the marked trails on Assiniboine River and the Red River near the Forks. The ice on those areas of the river are constantly monitored by the city's police river patrol.

Tinsley says the river ice is thin due to warm weather earlier this winter.