Child dies of suspected drowning in Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat is feeling “grief and disbelief and deep heartache,” according to the mayor, after an 11-year-old child died of a suspected drowning during a field trip to a regional park on Monday.

“I think everyone in Medicine Hat is feeling this loss. Tragedies like this touch all of us in ways that are real and lasting,” Mayor Linnsie Clark told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, one day after police said the student was rushed to hospital from Echo Dale Regional Park. 

That facility is a short drive from the city of 69,000 in southeast Alberta, and features a swimming lake that is staffed by city lifeguards.

It’s a popular local destination, and this week was the site of planned field trips as students and teachers wind down the school year.

It is closed while police investigate and the city does its own review, said municipal officials, who also closed four other pools for the day, in part to acknowledge parents’ unease and allow lifeguards to process the tragedy.

The city reopened two indoor pools and two outdoor community pools on Wednesday.

While Echo Dale Regional Park will reopen Friday morning, the swim lake will remain closed until further notice as staff review the incident, officials said this week.

Clark called the situation “heart-wrenching.”

“Certainly, I can understand parents who had trips scheduled to Echo Dale are feeling some concern,” she said. “We are just taking the time that we think is necessary to allow our staff to grieve before reopening the aquatic centres.”

The Medicine Hat Police Service said its officers were called to a report of a missing child just after 2 p.m. on Monday at Echo Dale Regional Park, about six kilometres west of the city in the South Saskatchewan River valley.

Officers say the child was located at 3:30 p.m. and transported to Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. A later update from police said the child had died of a suspected drowning.

Police told CBC News that no other information would be released.

Impact ‘felt across our broader community’

The Medicine Hat Public School Division sent a letter to parents on Monday night with initial and another on Tuesday, which included information about discussing grief with young children.   

“This is a tremendous loss for the student’s family, our school, and our broader community,” read a statement on the division’s website. “Many students, families and community members were present at the park, and others are hearing about the incident.”

Officials with the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education told CBC News that would adjust its schedule of year-end field trips, but it was likely that swimming activities would resume at locations other than Echo Dale lake when they are reopened by the city.

“The review is just a normal step and precaution after a major incident,” said Leah Prestayko, the city’s acting managing director of public services. “We would do it in any of our facilities.”