Edmonton Somali community mourns 14-year-old boy who drowned
A service was held Wednesday for the 14-year-old boy who recently drowned at a Whitecourt park.
The prayer for Hassan Mohamed was hosted at Al Rashid Mosque in northwest Edmonton.
Dozens of people from the Edmonton Somali community attended.
"When there is a tragedy like this, adversities like this, we all come together and give each other social support," explained Habiba Mohamud.
"It's very hard to see that he's gone when a few days ago he was just smiling and we were playing basketball together," a friend of eight years, Iqitizi Taylor, told CTV News Edmonton.
"I just don't know how to take it all."
Hassan was at Whitecourt's Rotary Park on Sunday with his family. He entered a pond and never resurfaced.
Divers retrieved his body on Tuesday.
The days-long wait to have Hassan's body recovered – which was delayed until Alberta's volunteer underwater search team became available – has only exacerbated the community's pain, Mohamud said.
"What's really making us feel even so bad about what's happened is the way the incident was handled. You're talking of a child who was in the lake for three days and three nights," she told CTV News Edmonton.
It's hard for Hassan's peers to understand, too.
"Why didn't they help him in the first day?" asked Abdirahman Abdi. "Doesn't make sense to me."
Hassan's family and community are advocating for the Alberta government to fund underwater rescue services under the emergency response umbrella and for more safety features at the park.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sean McClune
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.