|
Family honours man who drowned in river |
|
|
|
Written by Delon Shurtz
|
|
Saturday, July 24 2010, 8:50 PM |
Saturday was a perfect day for floating down the Oldman River in a boat or raft. The sun was out and there was little wind. Maybe some people even noticed a few flowers floating by.
If they did, and wondered why there were flowers in the water, they only had to look further upstream where a year ago 27-year-old Elijah de Guzman drowned while wading in the river with friends.
De Guzman’s family and friends commemorated his death Saturday with a brief memorial where they signed a cairn set up on the riverbank, and tossed flowers into the water in his memory.
“We love you,” said his mother, Enonie, as she tossed flowers into the water and watched them float downstream toward the spot where her son disappeared July 22. His body wasn’t recovered until two days later by Lethbridge emergency personnel using boat-mounted sonar.
Although the memorial allowed family and friends to remember Elijah, Enonie also used it to send a message to all users of the river to always wear lifejackets or some kind of PFD, personal flotation device.
“I really don’t want this to happen to any family. It’s so painful.”
Enonie said Elijah was full of life one minute, then gone the next.
Elijah and two friends entered the water near Popson Park and were walking back and forth across the river as they waded downstream. They walked past the Black Powder Club’s shooting range and as they moved toward Paradise Canyon Elijah walked into a deeper part of the water, lost his footing and went under.
No one in the group was wearing lifejackets which, if they had, would have prevented the tragedy.
Despite Elijah’s death, and the wide media coverage it attracted, as well as repeated warnings by the fire department, boaters and swimmers continue to go into the river without lifejackets. Some even take alcohol with them, which only makes the river more dangerous.
“Water and alcohol are not a good mix,” said Fire Chief Brian Cornforth, who also attended the memorial.
Only two weeks ago two men floated down the river above the weir, one towing a cooler with alcohol. They ignored warnings to stay away from the weir, and actually floated over it, but without incident — that time.
“Thankfully they made it through,” Cornforth said.
He urges people using the river to wear PFDs, no matter how well they swim. Even though the river may appear safe, the current is swift in some places and can catch swimmers and boaters off guard.
|
