“We are of course just saddened beyond belief,” Bayonne High School Principal Richard Baccarella said.
A New Jersey community is reeling after two teen brothers drowned in an indoor pool at a New Jersey High School in an incident that is currently being investigated, officials said.
School authorities confirmed that two brothers they identified as Jack Jiang, 16, and Chu Ming Zheng, 19, during community swim hours at the Lincoln Community School indoor pool on June 8.
Three lifeguards were on duty at the time. According to a report by The Jersey Journal, the lifeguards responded to the scene and “immediately began life-saving measures.” Their 11-year-old sister was there at the time of the incident and witnessed the drownings, according to NBC4.
Although little information on how the incident became tragic has been revealed, Bayonne Superintendent John Niesz stated that the schools will start its own investigation, as reported by the Jersey Journal.
Police told The Jersey Journal that the victims were at the deep end of the pool and in distress. Police said a lifeguard arrived on the scene and realized that the victims were unable to surface from the water. That lifeguard then entered the pool with the other two lifeguards.
The victims were immediately brought to Bayonne Medical Center where they were pronounced dead after efforts to save their lives failed. The Bayonne Police Department is conducting an investigation into the incident. The school insurance carrier and Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also conducting an investigation.
The Lincoln Community school pool is in a primary school and is open to the community at night. Jiang was enrolled at the school as a junior at Bayonne High School, while his older brother had recently graduated from the high school.
“We are of course just saddened beyond belief,” Richard Baccarella, the high school's principal, told The Jersey Journal.
The school district placed additional counselors in Bayonne High School to provide emotional support. Two counselors were placed in each classroom where the younger brother had classes.
"Many of us loved these two boys and they both loved us. The memories we have of them will never be enough to match the energy that they brought into a room and the way they lit up a room every time they entered one," Zheng's best friend wrote on a GoFundMe campaign he said he created to help cover the funerals for the brothers as well as help their family in their time of need. As of Monday, the page had raised more than $22,000.
