An 18-year old student from the University of Toronto died during a trip to an engineering camp. He was found beneath a floating dock not long after jumping into a lake on a warm afternoon.
The second-year civil engineering student, Anand Baiju who does not know how to swim according to his family died in an apparent drowning while at the facility on Gull Lake near Minden, Ontario.
Why it is important to learn how to swim
According to Sina Lakbala, he met Baiju on the bus ride to the camp earlier that day and spent the drive discussing the new school year and a campus engineering club Baiju had joined. He was passionate about the club and engineering and was a fun guy.
The bus does not have air conditioning so when the class arrived at the camp, a group of students decided to cool off in the lake. Baiju was among them.
Around 20 minutes later while in the water, Lakbala noticed some students frantically searching the water around the floating dock a short distance from the shore.
Lakbala swam over and learned that Baiju might have gone under. He began diving under the surface to check if he can find his classmate. According to Lakbala, he was under the water trying to feel around and felt a hand. He tried to grab his hand and pulled him out of the water and back to the beach.
Timely intervention
Others helped Lakbala to the shore who was unconscious. The students began to perform CPR on the young man while a professor called for emergency assistance.
The police declared Baiju dead right after being taken to a healthcare facility.
The family of the young man was devastated by Baiju’s death and wanted the university to take the necessary steps to prevent a similar incident in the future.
For more information about this story, click here.
LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a course on first aid and CPR and for more information, check out these sources: