Port Stanley drowning puts focus on swimming safety at Lake Erie beach
Beachgoers should determine water conditions, risks before entering, fire chief says
The drowning of a teenage boy off Port Stanley's main beach on Sunday is reigniting conversations around safe swimming practices, and the lack of provincial standards around beach safety.
Omer Buz, 14, was swimming at the beach with his father and brother when all three went into distress in rough waters. Lami Buz and son Mohammad, 17, were rescued by lifeguards, but Omer could not be saved.
The 14-year-old's body was recovered Tuesday from a rocky area near the Port Stanley pier break wall after an extensive search. Omer's death has hit Port Stanley and the local Muslim community hard. Dozens of people had linked arms on Sunday in a human chain to try and find the boy.
A funeral for Omer took place on Wednesday. The teen had recently arrived in the London area with his family from Türkiye, having fled from the Syrian civil war.
A candlelight vigil will be held on the pier on Saturday night.
MaryKate Townsend, the co-founder of Elgin County Drowning Prevention Coalition, said open water swimming can be challenging, with water currents and waves impacted by changing weather.
"The water in Lake Erie moves both laterally (and outwards), and there's a lot of movement underneath the water creating currents which really aren't visible," Townsend said, adding rocks and sandbars also pose a challenge.
Rip currents are particularly dangerous and can pull a swimmer away from shore quickly, she said. Swimmers caught in rip currents should swim parallel to the shore and then swim to land.
According to the OPP, Omer's father had gone into the water to help his two sons but then went into distress himself.
Lifeguards rescued Lami and Mohammad, but it wasn't until they returned to shore they heard a third person, Omer, was still in the water.
It's not clear what led to the three going into distress, but piers and breakwalls can cause dangerous structural currents.
A "washing machine effect" can result when structural currents combine with rip currents, "moving a swimmer from one current area to another with no clear path to safety," according to the Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium.
Jumping from the pier and break wall is banned, and beach signs warn of rip currents. Buoys also demarcate a "danger zone" near the pier that swimmers should avoid.
The brothers entered from the shore, however, the last place the 14-year-old was seen was near the danger zone boundary, said OPP Const. Brett Phair.
"With the pier there, the rocks that are there, and the way the prevailing winds enter that area, it creates currents and conditions… that can be challenging or have that effect on swimmers, or even boats," he said.
Raymond Ormerod, Central Elgin's fire chief, said beachgoers should familiarize themselves with beach conditions before entering the water, and speak with lifeguards for more information if in doubt.
Central Elgin Beach Rescue had posted yellow flags on Sunday, advising to take caution, but Townsend notes not everyone may understand what they mean.
There's no legislated provincewide standard for municipalities and beach operators to follow when it comes to flags and advisories, according to Lifesaving Society Ontario (LSO). Many beaches follow standards developed by LSO, which outlines what flags to use and where lifeguards should be, but doing so is voluntary.
The group is supportive of legislation, but spokesperson Stephanie Bakalar said nothing is before Queen's Park, which is on break until October.
Port Stanley's beach is "well signed," Bakalar said. However, she acknowledges not everyone is aware of the flags, and may not even look at them.
For new Canadians, language barriers could also be an obstacle. It's unclear whether this played a role on Sunday.
"A lot of times we find that... sometimes they're not familiar with swimming in open bodies of water," said Bakalar. New Canadians are four times more likely to drown or not know how to swim compared with someone born in Canada, the group said.
"We actually have a lot of great new Canadian outreach programs, and we get them involved with things like Swim to Survive. A lot of municipalities are running specific community education seminars for new Canadians."
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With files from Andrew Lupton