Man presumed drowned in Chestermere Lake

[Ruger1022]

What began Saturday as an exhaustive rescue mission for a Calgary man who fell into Chesteremere Lake had by nightfall turned into a recovery.

Fire officials say the man, identified only as a Calgary resident in his 30s, likely had not survived.

“We did our best efforts to make the rescue attempts,” said Chestermere fire captain Craig Passmore.

“After an hour and a half it has to turn into a recovery. There’s no way a person can last that long.”

A diver team had been dispatched to aid in the recovery effort.

The search began shortly after 6 p.m. upon reports a man disappeared in the southern region of Chestermere Lake, in this bedroom community east of Calgary.

Officials say the man was in a tube, being towed by an 18-foot boat and three friends from the Calgary area.

He wasn’t wearing a life jacket.

Passmore called it an unusual set of circumstances, one that could have been prevented.

“I think it reminds everybody that safety is paramount. You have to wear a lifejacket when you’re out having fun on the weekends in your watercraft,” Passmore said.

Several EMS, fire and police crews were staging their rescue efforts at the Chestermere Yacht Club.

STARS Air Ambulance and Calgary’s HAWC helicopter joined in the effort, circling the lake’s southern end for any sign of the man.

As the search began, a group of four people, identified as the victim’s friends, sat draped in towels by the water’s edge.

One woman sobbed into her hands, surrounded by several emergency personnel.

RCMP were still searching the waters at press time.

NO LIFE JACKET on a tube or in the water for that matter????
condolences to the family of course, but this did not need to happen!!

[Mad_Mikee]

I read that as well.

What what I read into the story. There is a guy who cant swim, is afraid of water and goes on a tube behind a boat without a life jacket.

Brilliant!

In the news today it said he leaves behind a girlfriend and 7 kids.

Umm....in his 30's and has 7 kids and works at a tree farm or something like that.

Sucks that he died but seriously who's going to look pay for 7 kids now?

[FishingMOM]

CALGARY — Congo native Richis Bondo Katumbay couldn’t swim and didn’t like water.

Lured by a sunny August day, he joined his friends and co-workers for a rare afternoon boating excursion on Chestermere Lake on Saturday.

Despite some initial reluctance, the 33-year-old Calgary man agreed to take a turn floating on a tube behind the boat.

He didn’t put on a life-jacket. When the vessel hit a rough patch of water on the lake, Katumbay slipped into the water.

He didn’t re-surface.

“He bumped, then he slipped. In 10 seconds, we turned (the boat) around to come get him — we couldn’t,” said his friend, and boss, Pacifique Mangapi, who was in the boat.

“We jumped in the water, we tried everything. We couldn’t get his hand. The water, it swallowed him.”

On Sunday, friends and loved ones of the young man gathered at the lake just east of Calgary as an underwater recovery dive team resumed efforts to recover Katumbay’s body.

“He was a good guy, the best guy,” said his girlfriend, Idam, wiping tears.

“His personality was always happy. He looked on the better side of everything.”

The Calgarian had moved to Canada from the Congo about 11 years ago. He had seven young children, who also live in Canada.

Katumbay played soccer and enjoyed singing Congolese music.

He had just started a job at Calgary Tree Experts about three months ago.

His co-workers and bosses planned the boating trip to take advantage of the summer weekend.

Idam was styling a friend’s hair at a Chestermere home and planned to meet the men when she was finished.

She spoke to her boyfriend on the phone Saturday afternoon before he got on the boat. He told her of his reluctance to get in the water, she said.

“I’ll never forget,” Idam said of their last conversation.

When he saw his friend spill into the lake, Craig Vandevoghel jumped out of the boat to try to save him.

“I just jumped into the water. I couldn’t find him. The water was too dark,” he said.

“I wish he was wearing a life-jacket,” said Mangapi.

“He was a very good guy. Big heart, hard worker.”

Katumbay will be buried in his native Congo, said his girlfriend.

First, the body must be recovered from the lake.

Chestermere RCMP Staff Sgt. Glenn Henry said the dive team was using sonar Sunday to try to locate the body. Drownings are rare at the lake, he said.

Investigators are piecing together information from witnesses, friends and family.

“The family is very distraught, the friends are very distraught. We are taking witness statements to try to figure out exactly what happened,” Henry said.

The incident is a sobering reminder about water safety.

The firehall in Chestermere is no longer equipped with a boat, said Henry, and the RCMP vessel is not a water rescue craft.

“People have to utilize water safety equipment and be prepared to help themselves.”

jkomarnicki@calgaryherald.comTwitter.com/journojamie



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[rugatika]

Very, very sad...and very unnecessary. If you can't swim, never mind not having a life jacket on, you should not even be on a small boat, never mind on the water.

Incidents like this are what lead to crazy intrusive government laws.

My condolences to the family. Should never have happened.

[slivers86]

tragic reminder to wear lifejackets. Condolences to the family, and hope future incidents can be prevented.

On a side note, not to desensitize this topic. but did anyone see the rcmp officer in the paper on the dock