Teen brothers die after being pulled from Lake Michigan, Indiana officials say
Two brothers who were swimming with cousins in Lake Michigan at Warren Dunes State Park have died after they were pulled underwater, according to local reports.
In a letter sent to Saint Joseph High School families in Indiana, the brothers were identified as South Bend students Ahmad Qasem and Saleem Qasem, according to the South Bend Tribune.
Ahmad was a senior on the biomedical science track who planned to attend Indiana University, the news site reported, and Saleem was a sophomore athlete.
The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and Saint Joseph High School described their deaths as “the tragic loss of two students” in a statement to McClatchy News. Officials say the students had been swimming with two others on Sunday, May 15 before they were seen drowning.
“The four of them went out in the water, they started having trouble and yelling for help,” Baroda-Lake Township Police Lt. Wesley Koza told The Detroit Free Press.
Three of the boys were pulled under “as the tide rose higher,” according to a GoFundMe raising money for their family.
“At that point, two bystanders swam out,” Koza told the Free Press. They were able to bring two of the teens to safety, but the witnesses could not find the two brothers who had then gone under. Police found them underwater about 35 minutes later.
All four boys were taken to a hospital, WSBT reported, where the two brothers were pronounced dead.
They were 16 and 17, according to WSJM.
“Their mother had lost her husband two years prior this news was shocking for her,” the GoFundMe says. “May God grant her strength, support, and eman to cope with this tragedy.”
Saint Joseph High School is offering counseling to students and staff, according to a statement.
“One of our core values is Build Family,” Principal John Kennedy said in the statement. “This means standing beside one another through the sorrows as well as the triumphs. We will walk through this grief together and call upon our faith to guide and strengthen us at this time. We ask for your prayers for the family, our students, faculty, and staff.”
An updated condition on the two other teens has not been made publicly available as of May 16.
Lake Michigan at Warren Dunes State Park is about 35 miles northwest from South Bend.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Teen brothers die after being pulled from Lake Michigan, Indiana officials say."