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AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University has announced that its student crew club must stay above the water at…
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University has announced that its student crew club must stay out of the water at least for now after an investigation blames the university and to the club officers the death by drowning of two members.
The Ames Tribune reports that the state of Iowa made the announcement on Monday when it released the preliminary findings of a pair of inquiries into the March 28 deaths of Yaakov Ben-David, 20, and Derek Nanni, 19. The suspension from the crew club will last at least the remainder of the current school year while health and safety measures are enacted.
The results blamed the anonymous crew club’s student leadership for failing to respond adequately to the strong winds before a boat capsized on Little Wall Lake, about 20 miles north of the campus. university in Ames. Three other crew club members were rescued and survived.
Also according to the findings, a safety launch boat should have been used – as conditions require – and there should have been a team member or coach on shore or in a boat launch. water to relay changing conditions and respond to an emergency.
Investigations – an internal review and a separate external review conducted with the help of a rowing expert – also found that the university lacked adequate oversight.
Members of the ISU Crew Club raised their safety concerns to the University’s Recreation Services Department in February 2020, concluding a letter with: “In the current state of our club, we should not not much for someone to be seriously injured. “
The letter from the club president at the time called for the construction of a wharf, the repair or purchase of a new speedboat or coach boat equipped with life jackets, and that a swimming test be compulsory for Members of the team. The swim test requested by the crew club was implemented, the club collected most of what it needed for a new dock, but no launch or coach boat was acquired, university officials said.
In a previous statement to the Tribune and other media, Alexis Aurandt, president of the Crew Club and leader of the boat that day, said the winds were coming from nowhere and lashing the lake which was as smooth as glass when the club members arrived.
Crew members weren’t supposed to row in winds above 14 mph, according to the club’s constitution. Aurandt said she checked the forecast at 6:30 a.m. on the morning of the crash and the winds were expected to be 11 to 14 mph and increase to 17 mph by 11 a.m.
The crew was launched at 8:45 a.m. Authorities established winds of 20 to 25 mph when the boat capsized about 45 minutes later as the rowers were returning to shore. None of the rowers wore life jackets, as is common in crew organizations, as the oars can catch them and interfere with their movements.
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