Maple Ridge drowning victim jumped in to save son, family says
Posted August 5, 2022 6:46 am.
Last Updated August 5, 2022 6:47 am.
The man who drowned in Maple Ridge over the long weekend had reportedly jumped into the Alouette River to save his son before the tragedy.
That’s according to an online fundraiser, which has identified the victim as Bakir Junaideen.
The GoFundMe campaign, launched by someone claiming to be the man’s nephew, says the 57-year-old jumped into the river Sunday, July 31, near Davidson’s Pool when the inner tube his son, nine-year-old Zaid, was on flipped.
“Noticing the commotion, people in the river were able to recover Zaid, but unfortunately, no one saw that Bakir did not emerge from the water,” the fundraising page reads in part.
It goes on to say that it was his wife who noticed Junaideen had not emerged, prompting many to jump into the water to find him.
The family says, eventually, the man was pulled from the water by two off-duty firefighters, who began CPR. Junaideen was taken to the hospital, though he was “unresponsive and reliant on a ventilator.”
He died days later, on Wednesday, Aug. 3. Junaideen leaves behind a wife, Farzana, and two sons — 12-year-old Nabeel and nine-year-old Zaid.
Thousands raised for family
As of Friday morning, the GoFundMe page for Junaideen’s family had raised more than $33,000.
It notes the money will go toward supporting the man’s loved ones, noting Junaideen was the family’s primary breadwinner.
His story is a tragically familiar one to Barbara Byers with the Lifesaving Society of Canada.
Byers says it’s important to know your own swimming abilities, adding people shouldn’t rush into the water if someone is in trouble. She recommends calling out to the person who’s in distress, reassure them help is coming, and call for help right away.
“If you are a really strong swimmer and you feel that you have some strong swimming skills, you can go out and rescue them. But what’s really important is not to go empty handed — you should take something with you, you should take something that you can extend to them so that they can hold onto it,” she explained.
“Often what happens is people are so well-intentioned and want to help someone, they jump in and go out to help someone and then that person grabs onto them and then there’s two people in difficulty. That makes the whole situation much worse.”
While she understands this advice may be difficult to follow in the moment, given the emotion and fear that can accompany this kind of situation, Byers stresses that staying calm is key.
“I think many people overestimate their swimming ability and their ability to swim a distance and get back to safety,” Byers explained.
-With files from Sonia Aslam
