The young man who drowned Wednesday evening in Eastwood Lake is Hasta Biswa, 19, of Dayton, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s office.
- Four men were playing or wading in the lake
- One, Hasta Biswa, went under and did not resurface
- Rescue teams found him nearly 45 minutes into the search
- Hasta Biswa later died
>>PHOTOS: From the scene of the attempted rescue
UPDATE @ 8:03 p.m. (May 9): Hasta Biswa may have been overcome by fatigue before he went under at Eastwood Lake on Wednesday evening, family members told News Center 7's Mike Campbell.
“He got tired, my big brother said,” Abishek Biswa, 15, said Thursday.
According to MetroParks rangers, who are heading up the investigation, Prem Biswa said he and his brother (Hasta) were wading in waist high water near the bank. “At some point, Biswa attempted to grab Hasta’s hand in order to pull him in closer,” the preliminary report reads.
Rangers said they believe Biswa may have stepp into a deeper portion of the lake, since there are no real currents.
Hasta, a senior at Belmont High School, leaves to mourn a family that relocated to the Dayton area from Asia a few years ago.
“Our family was [at Eastwood Lake],” Abishek said. “Everybody was here. We was praying for Hasta, that he would get a better life in heaven.”
EARLIER REPORT
Crews responded to Eastwood Lake at Eastwood MetroPark to conduct a water rescue Biswa went underwater and did not resurface around 6:15 p.m., according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch.
Fire and rescue crews launched boats following witness reports of the possible drowning.
A Huber Heights woman walking her bulldogs saw four young men swimming and having fun in the lake shortly before one of them went under.
>> Kettering man, 64, recovered from water at Eastwood MetroPark
“They were jumping off of the bank, swimming after a glass bottle that they had thrown out, and when they got there they were wrestling and hollering and screaming in the water, and just horse-playing as far as I know,” Staci Lovy said.
The playful scene turned serious, she said, with the brother of one of the young men missing after he did not resurface.
“I can’t believe that that quickly that they lost someone in the lake,” Lovy said.
Biswa’s brother Abishek said he learned about the incident from his father.
“I was just coming from my friend’s home. All of a sudden I see my dad and he said come to the car,” Abishek said. “I said what happened, he said there was an accident, my brother's in the water.”
Nearly 45 minutes into the search, rescue teams found Biswa 30 to 40 feet from the shore and pulled him from the lake, said Dayton District Chief Paul Raisch.
Raisch said Biswa, who apparently did not know how to swim, was at the lake with three or four family members who decided to take a swim. The lake is not designated for swimming, he said.
>> Bystanders credited with safely pulling 2 from Mad River at Eastwood MetroPark
Last month, another young man lost his life in a drowning incident.
Chance Mills, 18, of Dayton, was pulled by divers April 19 from a section of the pond in Lakeside Park that was 25 feet deep following an extensive search. Witnesses said he was struggling to swim before he went under.
>> Family, friends remember 18-year-old Dayton drowning victim at vigil
In October 2018, the body of 64-year-old Stephen Smith of Kettering was pulled from the Mad River at the Eastwood MetroPark after he went under while swimming and did not resurface, according to MetroPark officials.
In July 2018, a man and woman who were struggling in the Mad River at Eastwood MetroPark were rescued by bystanders at the park.
Got a tip? Call our monitored 24-hour line, 937-259-2237, or send it to newsdesk@cmgohio.com