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A beautiful lake, a sad story.
15 year old student drowns in Big Trout Lake
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Very sad. My condolence to his family and classmates.
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Maybe my brain isn't functioning properly this morning but I can't figure out how someone (who supposedly can swim (he had to pass a swim test to go on the trip)) simply goes underwater and doesn't resurface. It seems like details are missing.
Did he dive in and hit his head? It was in a lake so I assume it wasn't a current that took him away. The water is no longer cold so it wasn't that.
Condolences to the family, this is horrible.
Last edited by AlgonquinGuy (7/06/2017 6:54 am)
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There are lots of reasons why people who can swim drown: exhaustion, got caught up in something, panicked, slipped on rocks, unrelated medical issue. Drowning is unfortunately quite quick at times.
Condolences to his family.
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My condolences! The story states that after this young lad tragically drowned, the other 6 staff members and 32 other students were evacuated from the "campground". Something is wrong here and the story is missing something that we do not know of.
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boknows wrote:
My condolences! The story states that after this young lad tragically drowned, the other 6 staff members and 32 other students were evacuated from the "campground". Something is wrong here and the story is missing something that we do not know of.
There's no reason to speculate - you can't assume that the Global News writer understands what backcountry camping is well enough to write about it in an accurate way.
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the hot weather the last 4/5 days increases the chance of dehydration and muscle cramps. i have had it happen to me many times over the years while i was pushing myself in the heat. i have seen people cramped up dehydrated along the trail in algonquin park. being mindful of the conditions/ symptoms helps
many people refuse to drink lake water.
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Judging from the campsite video ,they weren't swimming off a beach. Park lakes are known for their drop off and shelves ( speaking as a fisherman ) .You can be in chest deep water ,move a few metres and be over your head and then some. Figure that's what happened to the kid. Way too remote a trip for kids such as these.
His father on tv said he couldn't swim and didn't take any swim test . School board rep said all the kids did and passed. Time to call the lawyers !
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My condolences! The story states that after this young lad tragically drowned, the other 6 staff members and 32 other students were evacuated from the "campground". Something is wrong here and the story is missing something that we do not know of.
I would guess that those too distraught were flown out. The news says that some paddled out today.
Tragedy. I teach and know the hassle we need to go through to go backpacking or half day canoe lessons. If there is even a hint that someone didn't follow the process or there wasn't proper supervision there'll be a big payout. And sadly it will make schools even more gun shy, making it harder to do these kinds of trips to expose city kids to something many of us take for granted.
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32 kids plus 6 staff would have to be spread across 5 campsites to keep within the limit of 9 per site. Perhaps they cheated a little and only had four sites. It still means though that there would have been two adults at most at the site where the drowning occurred and possibly only one adult.
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Sad story, what a traumatic experience for everyone involved. I hope that it doesn't deter other groups from going. Some of my best memories from high school were in Outdoor Ed, whether it was sumitting high peaks in the Adirondacks, staying at the Yurts on Mew Lake and cross country skiing or paddling down the Barron Canyon, there is no doubt that many things could have gone wrong but they are memories and friends that last a lifetime.
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the way that i read it, there was only two campsites used, one group flew out ,the others tripped out.
it is just so sad that this happened,,,
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Yes, Swede, I read that as well. 2 campsites for 38 people??????? Again, my condolences to the young lad and his family. But hopefully when another trip like this occurs, and I truly hope it does, the school and/or whomever organizes such a trip inform themselves of the rules of Algonquin Park or wherever they may be going.
Last edited by boknows (7/07/2017 10:11 am)
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I think we can assume if they broke the campsite rule so badly they didn't know much about the park or even wilderness canoeing. This will come out in the investigation .
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I'm just reading this now ... as a father of 2 kids getting to that age it hits home a little more than when I read this type of story before ...
It's hard to lay any blame at this point without knowing any details ... but agree with the folks here who wrote that passing a swim test in a pool is a far cry from swimming in a lake ... I have known some people that panic when they feel weeds wrapped around their feet when swimming in a lake ... it doesn't take much.
Tough story to read ...
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I think we can assume if they broke the campsite rule so badly they didn't know much about the park or even wilderness canoeing. This will come out in the investigation .
I have yet to see anything in any article that stated how many campsites the group used. Don't get distracted by the folks jumping to conclusions on this thread.
The only reference I have seen to the group being split in 2 was relative to approx. half the group getting evacuated by float plane in one day while the other approx. half of the group was not able to be evacuated the same day. Those statements had no relationship to the # of sites that may or may not have been used and obviously dealt with an exceptional situation.
I'll be quite blunt and say that anyone worried about the # of campsites that may or may not have been used definitely has the wrong priorities. Similarly no one who has not prepared and led trips of this type has the qualifications or credibility to question the qualifications and experience of the leaders.
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Rob,
No-one wants to jump to conclusions about the accident. But the school board isn't giving us any info , no doubt on legal advice. Notice the opp finally is asking the school for copies of the swim test report.
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