Calgary community grieving after two young men perish in drownings

A tragedy at Mahogany Lake yesterday has left two young men dead and a community reeling.

A tragedy on Mahogany Lake has left two young men dead and community reeling.

The bodies of two 20-year-olds were recovered from the southeast lake on Wednesday evening.

“We’re just really devastated for the community, for the families and hope that everybody reaches out and can help them in this time,” said Meghan Dooks, who is one of several community members who came to drop off flowers for the victims of the drownings.

The names of the men have not been publicly released.

It was around five o’clock in the afternoon when several witnesses reported seeing at least one man go under the water and disappear.

Danny Harlow was one of at least three people who jumped into the water to attempt to search before emergency officials arrived.

“There was a couple of us. We asked them where the where the fella went down, and they pointed to where they went down. So, so there was me and two or three other people who dove in and we dove in quite a few times around the area,” Harlow said. “We tried to find something and we couldn’t find anything.”

Aquatic rescue teams

All three of the Calgary Fire Department’s Aquatic Rescue Teams responded, along with volunteer divers, police and paramedics.

Responders initially thought just one man had disappeared, but it was discovered that a second man had gone missing.

“Crews got into the water immediately and started diving down and doing surface dives to see if they could locate the person. The water was very cold and deep as well and they couldn’t find the person,” said Scott Cowan, the battalion chief with the CFD.

“Calgary police were assisting us and it was determined that there was a second individual that was missing from the beach as well. And they determined that they were in the same area. So crews continued to search for both victims,” he said.

Search teams used sonar and underwater camera devices. The beach club’s CCTV system was also used to figure out where the men had gone under the water.

Their bodies were both recovered before 10 o’clock Wednesday evening. They were located in an area near the dock where the water depth ranged between three and four metres.

“It’s always so devastating to hear about any of these incidents. I think emotionally for a lot of people, it’s it’s even harder when it is in a circumstance like this, when there are people around,” said Madison Lalonde with the Lifesaving Society of Alberta.

“I think the main message that I get from an instance like this is that it really can happen to anyone.”

Calgary Police say the drownings are not considered suspicious.

With files from CTV Calgary’s Mason DePatie