Student tried to save drowning classmate
A University of Toronto student who died during a trip to the school’s engineering camp was found under a floating dock not long after he and his classmates jumped into a lake on a hot afternoon, according to a colleague who tried to save him.
Second-year civil engineering student Anand Baiju, 18, who, according to his family, could not swim, died in an apparent drowning while at the facility on Gull Lake near Minden, Ont., on Tuesday.
His classmate, Sina Lakbala, said he met Baiju on the bus ride to the camp that day and spent the drive discussing the new school year and a campus engineering club Baiju had joined. “He was really passionate about this club and engineering,” Lakbala said. “He was a really fun guy.”
There was no air conditioning on the bus, so when the class arrived at the camp, a group of students decided to cool off in the lake, Lakbala said. He and Baiju were among them. About 20 minutes later, while in the water, Lakbala said he saw students frantically searching the water around a floating dock some distance from the shore.
Lakbala said he swam over and learned Baiju might have gone under, so he began diving under the surface to see if he could find his classmate.
“I was under the water trying to feel around and then I felt something — like a hand,” he said. “I tried to grab his hand, and then I pulled him out of the water and started pulling him to the beach.”
Others helped Lakbala get Baiju, who was unconscious, to the shore, he said. Students performed CPR on Baiju while a professor called 911.
“I just sat on the beach in shock,” Lakbala said. “I couldn’t feel my legs. I was shaking. I couldn’t move my body.”
Police said Baiju was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to hospital.
The university said students on the trip returned home Tuesday night and activities at the camp, which is used to provide training in land surveying and project management, were cancelled for the week.
Baiju’s family said it was devastated by his death and wanted the university to take steps to prevent a similar incident.
“I don’t want this to happen to any other kid,” Baiju’s uncle, Manoj Gopinath, said. “I don’t want any family to have to go through this.”
Gopinath said the family was “upset” the university did not immediately contact Baiju’s relatives after the incident and that a representative from the institution was not at the hospital.
Elizabeth Church, a spokeswoman for the university, said the school has apologized to the family for not being at the hospital and said the engineering faculty has been in touch with Baiju’s relatives to plan a memorial for him.
“We’re going to learn from this,” said Church. “It’s a heartbreaking situation.”
Church said there were 50 students on the excursion to the camp. A class instructor, a teaching assistant and camp staff were also present.
Baiju worked two-part time jobs, at McDonald’s and as a security guard, to support his parents and 12-year-old sister and get himself through school, his uncle said. “He was a good person,” Gopinath said.