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Child drowns in Long Lake Teen pulls young boy from water at busy beach
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 28, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Parents cradled their children, trying to explain the unexplainable at Yellowknife's Long Lake Beach yesterday.
A seven-year-old boy drowned in the water off the beach around 3:45 p.m., RCMP confirmed yesterday evening. Witnesses say the child was under the care of a babysitter at the time.
Joe Elatiak, 16, pulled the child out of the water, which he identified as a young boy.
"Someone said there's a dead body out there and I just went in," Elatiak said.
"I saw a hand in there, moving around, so I pulled him out and moved him to shore."
Elatiak didn't know the victim, but said one of his friends was babysitting the child at the time of the drowning.
When the police arrived a person was performing CPR on the child, stated an RCMP press release.
The child was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The name of the victim was not released at the request of the family.
Parents escorted crying children from the beach after the victim had been taken away by ambulance, while others continued on swimming or playing.
One mother, who didn't want to be named, held her crying daughter in the parking lot above the beach. She said her children had witnessed the incident.
Last July, a young girl nearly drowned at Long Lake Beach, but regained consciousness after being resuscitated by emergency responders.
The near-tragedy sparked calls for lifeguards at Yellowknife's beaches.
Long Lake Beach, part of Fred Henne Park, is unsupervised. Though it falls under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, parents and beach goers are expected to look after their own safety.
In an interview with Yellowknifer last summer, Alayna Ward, manager of public affairs and communication for the tourism department, said the department had an agreement with the City of Yellowknife to share the costs of lifeguards, but the city hasn't been able to staff those positions since 2003.
The city employs 29 full and part-time lifeguards, trained to manage recreational pools. They would need additional training to qualify to patrol beaches.
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