On Tuesday there was a green flag flying over the beach at Mahogany Lake in southeast Calgary, a sign that the lake was open for swimming again.
But 48 hours earlier, the beach was a much grimmer scene as first responders pulled the body of 12-year-old boy from the bottom of the lake.
His family has confirmed the boy was Damilola Afolabi, who had only been in Canada for two months.
He went missing around 7:20 p.m. Sunday and had been underwater for 43 minutes before he was pulled from the frigid lake.
He later died in hospital.
Friends describe Afolabi as a loving boy who was settling into his new community and making friends before his tragic passing.
His death is not the first such tragedy at Lake Mahogany, which is one of several community lakes in Calgary that don’t have lifeguards on duty.
Just last summer, in August 2025, witnesses reported seeing a young man going under and not resurfacing.
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As scuba divers searched for him, the belongings of another person were discovered on the beach, leading searchers to eventually recover the bodies of two 20-year-old men from the lake.
Peters Ike’s son Yagazie was one of those young men.
Since then he’s been advocating for safety improvements at the lake.
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“I can relate to what they are going through right now,” said Ike.
“I know what it’s like — and that’s what we hoped we could prevent. I mean, for someone else not to experience what we experienced. So right now, it’s as if the whole thing just came back again.”
Ike claims his efforts included meetings with the Mahogany Homeowners Association, Calgary’s mayor, local city councillor and manager of the lake operations.
Among the changes he has advocated for is improved signage at the lake and an ability classification system for swimmers.
While Ike says there was a “collaborative spirit,” change hasn’t come base enough.
“It is about time, you know. There’s just another boy that’s very soon going to be put to rest — the first week of May, you already have one fatality.
“The season is just about starting — my view would be perhaps not timely enough.”
Global News contacted the Mahogany Homeowners Association to talk about what if any safety improvements have been made, but the association responded with a statement saying it wanted to allow the family time to grieve.
My heart goes out to the family of this tragic loss.
As a Water Safety Instructor it all comes down to education,this and all drowning are preventable and common scence is required.
If you can’t swim stay out if the water,or have an adult with in arms length of a non swimmer.
Learning to swim should be a life skill or at least learn enough water safety skills to save yourself.
Alberta, the Drowning Capital of Canada.
It is a lake. What improvements would anyone want. Don’t go swimming if you cannot swim. The water is cold, so limit your distance. There needs to be common sense.
Unfortunately Darwin happens. We should not knee jerk react to every thoughtless act.