A 24-year-old teacher and a 10-year-old pupil have died after being found in the water during a school outing at a reservoir in Iowa.
Hannah Jorgensen, from Tiffin, and Ahmed Osman, from Iowa City, were members of the Borlaug Elementary School community, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa City Community School District said.
The pair were taking part in a fifth-grade School of the Wild field trip at Lake MacBride State Park on Tuesday, 22 September, when emergency services were called to reports of people in the water near the Coralville Reservoir spillway.
Responders recovered Ms Jorgensen at about 12.43pm. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A search for Ahmed continued into the night before his body was recovered at about 1.24pm on Wednesday, 23 September.
The sheriff’s office said the incident remained under investigation and that no further details were available.
Several agencies assisted with the operation, including the Johnson County Metro Dive Team, local fire and police departments, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State Patrol, the US Army Corps of Engineers and medical teams from the University of Iowa.
The school district said Ms Jorgensen was a fifth-grade teacher and Ahmed was a fifth-grade pupil.
“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of two beloved members of our Borlaug Elementary family,” the district said. “There are simply no words that can adequately express the depth of this loss.”
Counsellors and additional support staff are being made available to pupils and employees at the school as the community mourns the two deaths.
