Ivan was 15 years old when, in June 2021, he drowned in the Ebro River while hiking with his classmates from the Agustí Serra i Fontanet high school in Sabadell. The students had to travel by canoe the route that goes from Benissanet to Miravet (Tarragona), a stretch with an attractive natural environment and, supposedly, calm waters. The group included 18 schoolchildren, two teachers and two monitors. Ivan never returned to shore. The court of Gandesa has recently questioned the two teachers and the monitors who coordinated the activity to clarify what happened that day. The case is being processed as a crime of homicide by recklessness.
This past weekend marked two years since Ivan's death, and the event is the subject of judicial investigation after the Provincial Court of Tarragona revoked the initial file of the case. On the day of the events, a group of ESO students from Sabadell travelled to the Terres de l'Ebre. The course was coming to an end and the institute had planned an outing with outdoor activities. The excursion had gone normally, but when the route along the river ended, the alarms were activated because a student was missing. The group landed at Miravet, but Ivan was not with his companions. The boy's body disappeared underwater and was swept away by the current. He was not located until four hours later, already lifeless. Some witnesses report that Ivan was not the only one who could not return to the shore, as other schoolchildren had problems with the force of the water.
In their judicial statement in the court of Gandesa, the two teachers deny that they acted carelessly in the guard of the school group. They report that the two sailed together, in the same canoe at the head of the group, and that when they reached the shore, once the activity had ended, they noticed that two boys were missing. One teacher remembers seeing "two heads in the distance." It was Ivan and his boatmate, who was able to cling to a rock. Ivan was washed away. One of the monitors who accompanied the group on June 3 has stated that they also had to help a girl so that she could get out of the water.
One of the teachers has declared in court not to have lost sight "at any time to any student", but emphasizes that when it was noticed that there were two members of the class in the river she was "far enough away to not be able to identify who the students were". Her classmate has stated that she has not seen "anyone sink" and that, when the students reported that a classmate was missing, she ran along the shore until she found the boy who was aboard the same boat as Ivan. She managed to grab his hand and helped him out of what he says was "a vegetated area."
In the teachers' court statements, it is stated that the group of schoolchildren was "very manageable". Both Ivan and the rest of the students are classified as "obedient". The owner of the company that rented the canoes has stated that he gave specific instructions not to remove the life jacket. "It is forbidden to take it away," he said in court. He also revealed that the area chosen to disembark is considered safe, but that 15 meters below there is a "dangerous" current. Asked what he remembers of the day of the events, the businessman has revealed that a child who "was in shock" said that Ivan had disappeared. According to the version of this declarant, one of the teachers reacted by pointing to the possibility that the boy was urinating in some corner and that, when she did not find him, she speculated with the possibility that he had gone ahead of the group to go to the bar.
The Department of Education is involved in the case. A lawyer from the Generalitat questioned the owner of the kayaks about the company's protocol and asked him if he usually asks minors if they know how to swim. "It's often asked," he replied.
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