Water safety urged after body found in Calgary McKenzie Lake: EMS
Posted Jul 17, 2023 6:11 pm.
Last Updated Jul 17, 2023 6:12 pm.
After a man’s body was pulled from a lake in southeast Calgary, the city’s emergency officials are urging people to be safe on the waters.
EMS recovered the body of a man from McKenzie Lake on Saturday
Paramedic Naomi Nania says crews searched at around 5 p.m. for 15 minutes after the man was reported missing
The aquatics team then found the body in the water and attempted life-saving measures, but he was declared dead at the scene.
WATCH: Body recovered from McKenzie Lake
Following the event, Nania says an incident like that can happen in seconds and can be avoided when taking the proper precautions.
She says water safety must be a priority in any body of water, but open water does have its own set of challenges.
“From the shore to … something as simple as five to 10 feet off the shore can drop quite suddenly. So that’s something that we want people to be aware of that you don’t know how deep something is or how deep it can get,” Nania said.
“Then we have rivers and currents that we have to be aware of can get pulled quite quickly into a current.”
Read More: Man in life-threatening condition after reports of near-drowning at Calgary Bow River
Calgary Fire Department spokesperson Carol Henke tells CityNews each year, there are avoidable tragedies that occur on the Bow River with people not using the proper equipment.”
“At least use a multi-chamber craft. So if one part deflates, you still have other parts that are inflated, that are quite robust and are intended for those types of swift water wilderness activities,” she explained.
“And if you’re gonna go through Harvey passage, you should be an experienced whitewater kayaker, and you should be wearing a helmet.”
Henke says that pool floaties aren’t intended for swift water, and if you hit something, like a log or rock, you could be in major trouble with an unpredictable current.
“Anywhere where there is water — it doesn’t matter how shallow it is, where there’s water, there’s a risk,” she explained. “Drowning can happen in certain situations when you least expect it.”
Henke and Nania say that — whether in a pool lake, or river — children should be within arm’s reach at all times.
