Iowa elementary school teacher and her 10-year-old student died following an incident near the Coralville Reservoir
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — A routine outdoor field trip turned into a tragedy this week when an Iowa elementary school teacher and her 10-year-old student died following an incident near the Coralville Reservoir spillway at Lake Macbride State Park.
Hannah Jorgensen, 24, was recovered from the water on Tuesday afternoon and pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency crews launched an overnight search for fifth-grader Ahmed Osman, 10, before recovering his body from the reservoir on Wednesday afternoon.
Both were attending a trip with Borlaug Elementary School as part of the Iowa City Community School District’s “School of the Wild”—an established environmental education program designed to give students hands-on experience in nature.
“This is a devastating loss for the entire Borlaug Elementary community and our district family,” school officials said in a statement released following the tragedy. Support services and grief counselors have been deployed to the school to support students, families, and staff processing the loss.
More than a dozen local, county, and state agencies participated in the extensive, multi-agency search and recovery effort, which relied on dive teams, sonar equipment, and aerial support due to the challenging terrain and conditions near the spillway.
Authorities have not yet released details regarding the exact sequence of events that led up to the pair entering the water. The incident remains under active investigation by state and local law enforcement.
