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Family, friends mourn Surrey man after drowning incident

Dhan Bains, 25, being remembered as an athlete, ‘such a giving person’
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Family and friends are remembering 25-year-old Dhan Bains, who died in a drowning incident near Mission on Sunday (Aug. 16, 2020). (Submitted photo: Gurp Samra)

Family and friends are remembering a 25-year-old Surrey man who died in a drowning incident near Mission on Sunday (Aug. 16).

Dhan Bains died Sunday while at Davis Lake with a group of friends, said Gurp Samra, whose brother is married to Bains’ sister.

It was a month before his 26th birthday.

Samra said Bains and his friends had gone for a hike in the area earlier in the day before heading to the lake.

“He swam from shore to the float in the middle of the lake, and he was just fine. Then when he got to the float, they were all wrapping and ready to go,” said Samra.

“Him and one other friend, they got into the water to swim back and his friend turned back around to the float and said, ‘It’s too far, I don’t think I’ll make it.’ Dhan kept swimming.”

Samra said the “only likely scenario” is that Bains got a leg cramp while swimming back to shore.

“Being an athlete like Dhan, nobody believes that he got tired or that there was an endurance problem. I don’t believe that for a second because of how much physical activity he did on a regular basis,” Samra explained, adding it was very hot that day.

“They had just gone on a hike and they had been swimming all day. I think just from the fatigue and the dehydration, he got a really bad leg cramp.”

Samra added that Bains wasn’t wearing a lifejacket at the time of the incident.

READ ALSO: B.C. paramedics urge caution as summer drowning incidents on the rise in 2020, Aug. 20, 2020

“The biggest thing that we’re trying to get across to the community, is just to be safe, take precautions, wear your lifejackets, encourage one another to wear lifejackets instead of belittling each other about wearing lifejackets. I think that’s something that’s been a problem with youth and young adults.”

According to B.C. Emergency Health Services, paramedics have responded to 149 water incidents so far this summer, with two more weeks left in August.

Atish Ram, whose son Tyler was friends with Bains, said the news of his death has been “a shock” as the 25-year-old had become “like our son.”

“To us, it’s quite tragic because it was such a young life. He was such a giving person, giving back to the community. His attitude was always like, ‘I’ve got this,” said Ram. “I’m always sad when I hear about death, but when I hear about a young person who’s got such a long life ahead of them, and cut short like that, it’s just devastating.”

Like Samra, Ram said the message now is: “When you go swimming whatever you do, look out for one another. Don’t feel that you’re invincible.”

For Tyler, who coached Bains in basketball at Sullivan Heights Secondary, his death is “overwhelming, but it’s just nice to see how much of an impact he had on such a broad group of people.”

The two “built a connection” through basketball and later “became like family,” Tyler said.

He remembered Bains playing in the Hoops for Kids tournament that benefits BC Children’s Hospital. Tyler said Bains played in it three of the last four years.

“It’s actually amazing to see how many people that he touched, and how many people that he knew,” said Ram. “So many people have reached out to me, his friends, his family, and people you haven’t seen in so long, but he made such an impact on them that they want to pay their respects.”

And the support has been overwhelming.

A community Facebook group has been started in memory of Bains and in a little more than a day, nearly $18,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe, which will be going to a cause of the family’s choosing, said Samra.

“The plan is that we will be deciding on something that Dhan was a part of, something that he was close with.”

A candlelight vigil is also planned outside of Bains’ former high school, Sullivan Heights Secondary, on Sunday (Aug. 23) at 6 p.m. Wax candles are not allowed, and people are asked to bring battery charged candles.

Due to COVID-19, masks are mandatory at the vigil.

Asked how Bains will be remembered, Samra said, “Dhan had a million-dollar smile and he lit up the room he walked into. He was the most versatile person, he would get along with any group of people.”

READ ALSO: Father’s Day tragedy: Surrey man drowns after saving daughter at Kelowna waterfall, June 22, 2020

READ ALSO: GoFundMe set up to help send body of Cultus Lake drowning victim back home to India, July 28, 2020

READ ALSO: Harrison Lake drowning victim identified as 20-year-old man from China, Aug. 19, 2020

– With files from Katya Slepian



lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com

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Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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