The body of a 14-year-old boy was pulled from Lake Erie on Tuesday, days after he, his brother and his father got caught up in dangerous waters at Port Stanley, Ont.
The death is prompting calls for action around a pier notorious locally for dangerous undertows.
Provincial police were able to rescue a 44-year-old man and his 17-year-old son on Sunday afternoon, but the 14-year-old remained in the water.
Beachgoers and area residents worked together to form a human chain, trying desperately to save the boy, but immediate efforts were unsuccessful. The body was recovered Tuesday afternoon.
“The OPP would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our emergency service partners, community residents and to everyone that provided information surrounding this incident,” Elgin OPP Insp. Jennifer Neamtz said.
“Our thoughts are with all family members and friends at this time.”
Police have not named the deceased but the London Muslim Mosque listed a funeral notice Wednesday for Omer Buz. A GoFundMe said the family recently immigrated to London, Ont., and that “what started out as a beautiful family outing to the beach of Port Stanley on Sunday July 14th ended in tragedy.”
“The Buz family has a daughter living in Turkey that is desperately trying to get to Canada to be with her family during this devastating time,” the fundraiser reads.
“We are asking the community to help with anything possible to help ease the financial burden and also any travel costs associated with bringing their daughter home.”
Heather Taylor was among those assisting with rescue efforts on Sunday. Despite only living in nearby St. Thomas for just over eight years, this is the second drowning she’s witnessed.
Almost exactly eight years prior to Buz, 18-year-old William Johnston drowned off the pier, which had only reopened the previous year following a 17-year closure prompted by the drownings of three men in 1998, the St. Thomas Times-Journal reported.
“Many of us who are local to Port Stanley and St. Thomas area know that the area near the pier has higher dangers,” Taylor said.
“The signage that’s down there now closest to the pier, it has ‘What to do if a rip tide occurs’ and the tall grass was growing over that signage.”
Taylor is organizing a group set to meet Monday to begin crafting a plan to present to council, likely in the fall, to look at options for improving water safety awareness.
She said some area companies have suggested they would be happy to provide improved or additional signage, develop a QR code to allow signs to be read in multiple languages and support other potential beach safety initiatives.
She noted that language was also a barrier for the family, whom she spoke with through interpreters at the beach on Sunday.
“The last thing that ended with that conversation was that I would advocate for the family and advocate for better water safety,” she said.
“When I spoke to his brother and said, ‘I will do this,’ and he thanked me — that’s why I’m doing this. I will keep that promise I made to the Buz family.”
MaryKate Townsend with the Elgin County Drowning Prevention Coalition agreed that locals generally understand the dangers associated with the lake, but summertime visitors may not recognize those dangers.
“Unfortunately, I fear that that’s what maybe has happened recently,” she said.
“Lake Erie is rather shallow and with impending storms and weather changes, it tends to turn over pretty quickly. We see riptides and we see high waves and murky water, so it makes visibility difficult, and then with rocks and the pier and sandbars, it can be really unpredictable at times.”
Townsend is hoping for further discussion with the municipality around safety at the pier, in particular.
“We just know from past instances where it has played a factor,” she said.
“That’s something I’m hoping that maybe we can engage in conversations with the municipality, and maybe they’ll take a look at that. But I think it’s still early stages. Everybody’s still sort of reeling and reacting to the events.”