SACO (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Water safety is on the minds of many in the wake of the drowning of a Lewiston Middle School student.
RELATED ► 'There were no screams, no signs of panic', says witness of field trip death at Range Pond
The NEWS CENTER Now team wanted to know what parents can do to prevent this from happening to their children and visited a local water park to speak to a safety expert. When we got there, we discovered several of the drowning victim's classmates were at Funtown Splashtown USA for a different field trip, the day he drowned.
"Anytime you see a tragedy like this with a young person it's just not right," says Cory Hutchinson, General Manager of Funtown Splashtown USA.
The sad news hit close to home for Cory Hutchinson on several levels.
"Of course I'm here running a business that's surrounded by water, number one. Number two, I'm a parent and I've been a chaperone on field trips before so not only am I feeling it from a level of these poor parents that had to have a phone call made to them but what about these other parents and people that were there," he said.
Rayan Issa drowned days after Olympic skier Bode Miller's 19-month-old daughter died after wandering into a pool.
About ten people die every day from accidental drowning, according to the CDC. Many of those are children.
Hutchinson says his lifeguards had a scare not too long ago.
Hutchinson has dedicated his life's work to water safety and offers the following advice to families going to the pool, lake, or beach this summer:
- No horseplay
- Someone outside of the water needs to be watching -- always
- Use the buddy system.
"It takes literally the blink of an eye for someone to swallow some water be at the bottom of a pool or a lake or a pond for you know, two minutes, you could have a massive tragedy on your hands," he said.
The Lewiston superintendent says all water-related school activities have been canceled.