A tragic reminder this weekend about water safety
Posted Jun 20, 2011 05:18:02 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TOWNSHIP OF PERTH EAST, Ont. – A Toronto teenager has died after being pulled from a pond at a Mennonite camp near Stratford.
14-year-old Malcolm Gyamfi was swimming with a group of young people just after 4 p.m. Saturday at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp.
Some members of the group went beyond the roped-off area into deeper water and the teen disappeared under the surface.
Firefighters pulled him from the water.
Gyamfi was taken to Stratford General Hospital and then on to London’s Victoria Hospital where he died about 11 p.m. Saturday.
Elsewhere, the memory of a Peterborough boy who drowned has inspired the launch of a swimming survival video.
4-year-old Avery Pringle drowned in the Otonabee River near Peterborough last July.
After his death, city police, fire and EMS came up with the idea of creating the three-minute video that will be posted to YouTube later this week.
The video shows Grade 3 students from Queen Mary Public School demonstrating the Lifesaving Society’s “Swim to Survive” skills.
Those skills are roll into deep water, tread water for one minute and then swim 50 metres.
The society says those are the minimum skills needed by all Canadians to survive a fall into deep water.
