The body of the 14-year-old boy who drowned in a Whitecourt, Alta., pond on Sunday was recovered on Tuesday, RCMP told CTV News Edmonton.
The victim, identified by family as Hassan Mohamed, drowned in the pond area of Rotary Park Outdoor Waterpark just before 4 p.m.
RCMP and firefighters searched until midnight on Sunday and between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday. Divers went into the pond just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday and recovered the body at 10:18 a.m., the RCMP said.
“We’re trying to help the family heal and we’re very glad that right now the body was found, which is very, very important,” said Ahmed Shukri, a friend of the family through Edmonton’s Somali community.
“It’s going to give the family a bit of closure.”
On Monday, the family of the victim questioned why divers hadn’t come to search for their son sooner.
Cpl. Mike Hibbs said the divers are volunteers and that “they’re quite busy at this time.”
Shukri, and the family a day earlier, said there is a lack of warning signs and safety measures to keep park users safe.
“We’re feeling this was preventable,” he said.
In 2014, a 19-year-old drowned in the same pond, Cpl. Hibbs told CTV News.
Whitecourt’s mayor told CTV News the pond does have warning signs and that the town will review the death.
https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/body-of-14-year-old-boy-found-in-pond-northwest-of-edmonton-1.6029431
