The family of a University of Toronto student who was pulled from a lake during a school-operated excursion says the 18-year-old couldn’t swim.

Anand Baiju was attending a U of T camp on Gull Lake near Minden, about 200 kilometres northeast of Toronto, when he died Tuesday.

Emergency services said they responded to the area at roughly 4:45 p.m. The teen was pulled from the lake and transported by paramedics to the Haliburton Highlands Health Services hospital in Minden, where he was pronounced dead, according to Sgt. Peter Leon of Haliburton Highlands OPP detachment.

Baiju was a civil engineering student at U of T who was excited to embark on his second year of studies, his uncle Manoj Gopinath told the Star in an interview Thursday.

Gopinath said Baiju had already purchased back-to-school items in anticipation of starting his new year. Now they sit untouched in shopping bags, Gopinath said, and his nephew will never get the chance to use them.

“He bought five or six dress shirts, pants, shoes, perfumes ... all with his own money.”

Baiju worked two part-time jobs to pay for his tuition and support his family, Gopinath said. “He was really hardworking. He was a really ambitious kid.”

According to police, Baiju was in the water with friends when he drowned.

“I understand he was in the water with friends; he became separated from them, at which point they made an attempt to locate their friend and removed him from the water immediately and started with first aid themselves,” Leon said.

Baiju’s uncle said the family is left with many questions, noting that his nephew couldn’t swim.

“I have a lot of questions to ask to university authorities regarding this, because it’s not a recreational trip or anything. It’s part of the study program,” Gopinath said.

“They had been taken to their facility. It’s not a public area.”

Cristina Amon, dean of faculty of applied science and engineering at U of T, said the academic activities at the trip were supervised by staff and they were all organized to take place on land.

She said a list of rules was given to each student. She could not confirm whether the rules barred students from going into the water.

The school is still gathering details on how the incident took place and if any staff were present when it occurred, Amon said.

“We’re strongly committed to finding out what happened and to learn from this heartbreaking event,” she told the Star in an interview Thursday.

Amon could not answer whether any lifeguards or staff certified in life-saving skills were at the camp.

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“We’re also trying to find out answers to the questions that you’re asking,” she said. “It will take time to do this properly.”

The field excursion is a part of a second-year introduction to the civil engineering course, a U of T spokesperson said in an email.

“They were only scheduled to be up north for one night,” the spokesperson said.

Amon said attending the session is a mandatory requirement for students entering their second year of civil engineering.

She said 50 students were at the camp when the incident happened. And she sent a message to staff and students, in which she announced the cancellation of the remainder of the trip. Students who were participating in it returned Tuesday night, she said.

“We are all heartbroken, as you can imagine,” she told the Star. “We’re in close contact with the family to provide support in any way that is possible.”

Students who were present at the camp are also receiving help, she said.

A Gofundme page has been set up to help raise funds for Baiju’s funeral. By Thursday evening, 131 people had raised $9,282 of the $20,000 goal.

Gopinath said their family is destroyed by the loss.

“We are totally devastated,” he said.

“I don’t know what to say. He was the only hope for them. A hope for the whole family.”

Correction — Sept. 6, 2018: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that the camp was run over a two-week period. The camp was a one-night excursion.

With files from Gilbert Ngabo