Boy drowns in Tonkawa Lake

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Monday, September 06, 2010

News	September 06, 2010

7/29/2010 9:36:00 AM

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Boy drowns in Tonkawa Lake
A young boy from Nepal was pronounced dead at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on Sunday, July 25, one day after he was pulled from beneath the water while swimming in Lake Tonkawa at Hilltop Lakes.

Bahl Gautam, 8, of Nepal was pronounced dead at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston at around 1 p.m. Sunday, July 25, after all life support had been removed. Gautam had shown no sign of brain activity since being brought to the Houston hospital just over 24 hours earlier, on Saturday, July 24, via helicopter ambulance.

He was in Hilltop Lakes on Saturday, July 24, at a cookout and swim party conducted annually for international families living in the Bryan/College Station area.

The cookout and swim party is hosted each year by Hilltop Lakes residents Jerry and Jan Allen, both retired foreign missionaries who continue to work with international families in the area, sources said. Gautam, his pregnant mother and a brother were among the group enjoying the outing for the first time; the boy's father was working in Wisconsin, sources said.

According to sources, the boy was swimming in the area of Tonkawa Lake designated for the activity around noon on Saturday, July 24, when he apparently went into deeper water. He went under, and failed to surface.

Gautam was pulled from the water by members of the group, who began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A 911 call was made, and the Hilltop Lakes EMS responded, as did Jewett EMS.

Sources said the boy was placed on life support, and transported to Madison St. Joseph Health Center in Madisonville by Jewett EMS. A helicopter ambulance then transported the boy to the Houston hospital a short time later.

Around 1 p.m. Sunday, July 25, life support was removed after more than 24 hours with no sign of brain activity. The boy was pronounced dead a short time later, sources said.

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