Amoh, a rising sophomore at Trinity University, drowned in the Connecticut River around three miles north of campus on Wednesday. He was visiting his brother Justice Amoh '13, a graduating senior, and was reported missing during River Fest, a senior week event at the Chieftain Inn.
New Hampshire Fish and Game divers found his body at 9:19 a.m. Thursday. Amoh was last seen on a rope swing on the Vermont side of the river. Emergency officials received a 911 call at 6:01 p.m. and notified the College, Hanover Fire Department captain Jeremy Thibeault said.
Police captain Frank Moran was unavailable for comment on Friday afternoon.
A few days before leaving Trinity for the summer, Aparna Gomes, a rising senior, ran into Amoh, who shared his plans to visit Dartmouth for his brother's graduation. Gomes told him that she would be spending the summer at home in Honduras. But when Gomes tried to say goodbye, Amoh would not let her.
"Ernest wasn't somebody who believed in goodbye," Gomes said. "He said, What do you mean, goodbye? It's see you later.' He would not let me leave until I said see you later' instead of goodbye.'"
Gomes, who met Amoh through an international student orientation, called Amoh one of the most genuinely friendly people she had ever met.
"Ernest is one of the more positive guys I know," she said. "He was always all smiles. Whatever he said, he would see the positive in all things."
Amoh's time at Trinity was marked by an enthusiasm for spending time with the people he loved, Gomes said. He would often play soccer with his best friends on the university's intramural field, and at least twice a week he would meet up with them to play pool.
"Trinity has lost a really happy member of our campus," Gomes said. "Ernest was such a supportive friend. All of his friends trusted him, he was someone you could rely on."
Whenever his friends needed support, Amoh was there to help them find a solution or to put them in a better mood. "It'll get better" was one of his catchphrases, Gomes said.
"I have never seen Ernest frown," Gomes said. "You just couldn't be in a bad mood around Ernest, he knew how to make you laugh."
Amal Elhadri, a rising senior at Trinity, said Amoh was part of a tight-knit international community.
Trinity students were notified of Amoh's death by a campus email, which referred students to counselors and encouraged them to contact Trinity administrators for additional information.
Though official plans for a memorial have not yet been set, Gomes said she believes one will be held when students return to campus in the fall.
Safety and Security officers conducted an initial search of the river on Wednesday with a College safety boat. As night fell, the search was called off. New Hampshire Fish and Game, New Hampshire Marine Patrol, and Hanover Fire and Police Department resumed the search at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Amoh's body was found "not far" from the rope swing, but the distance was long enough to require a dive team, police captain Frank Moran said. His body was found in an area of the river that is 18 feet deep.
Students had gathered at the Chieftain Inn for River Fest, sponsored by the 2013 Class Council, on Wednesday.
A canoe occupied by five seniors, Alan Gottesman '13, Galen Pospisil '13, Dani Wang '13, Ethan Wang '13 and Jeff Wilson '13, was about 100 feet from the two brothers on shore, Pospisil said.
They watched as the younger brother went off the rope swing and saw him surface for a few seconds, Wilson said. He was in distress, flailing his arms before submerging.
"He came up for a couple seconds, not his head, just his arms," he said.
Wilson said he jumped out of the canoe with Gottesman and Pospisil to help. Ethan Wang and Dani Wang paddled to shore to look for the victim and comfort the older brother.
The graduating senior was yelling for help and said that his younger brother did not know how to swim, Ethan Wang said.
The two brothers were alone on the Vermont side of the beach without a lifeguard or life vests. The senior also did not know how to swim, Ethan Wang said.
Life vests were available at the Chieftain Inn, said Jennifer Barton, a manager.
A lifeguard was on duty at the Chieftain, students at River Fest sometimes kayak or canoe to the Vermont bank, where no lifeguards were stationed, College media relations director Justin Anderson said.
Although the rope swing was close to shore, the river floor scaled off and became "much deeper" near where the victim jumped, Ethan Wang said. There was also a strong current in the water that was not visible from the shore.
"People in the water talked about having to pull their weight against the current," he said.
When Wilson, Gottesman and Pospisil were not able to locate the younger brother, Ethan Wang called 911 while Pospisil paddled back to the Chieftain for additional help.
Wilson said it was impossible to see anything underwater because of the muddy conditions close to shore. He and Gottesman tried to swim further downstream to where they estimated the current may have pulled the younger brother, but were unsuccessful.
When Pospisil reached the New Hampshire side of the river, he yelled for help but was unsure who was in charge. He ran to a friend and told him to call 911.
"There was a lot going on, music. It took a little while," he said.
The first responders were student lifeguards on duty and other students trained as lifeguards or Emergency Medical Service personnel. Some swam across to Vermont while others took canoes.
Sam Worth '13, a member of Ski Patrol and certified open waterfront lifeguard, paddled from the inn to Vermont about five minutes after the victim initially submerged.
Worth said a group of trained students performed a body search, walking with locked arms through the water, while they waited for emergency personnel.
The amount of time that passed and the sudden drop off into deep water made the sweep challenging, he said.
"Initially there's that spark of hope that everything's going to work out, but reality sets in," he said.
Several minutes later, emergency personnel began to arrive. The Norwich police brought a diver, Wilson said.
An ambulance from the Hanover emergency response team arrived on the New Hampshire side of the river as well.
Student lifeguards tried to calm down the older brother, Gottesman said.
After about half an hour, Gottesman, Dani Wang, Ethan Wang and Wilson rode back to the New Hampshire side of the river in canoes.
Gottesman described the scene at the Chieftain as "surreal." Hundreds of student attendees were standing silently on the shore.
"I can't believe that it happened and happened right in front of us, all in a matter of seconds," Gottesman said.
He said the seniors in the canoe have discussed hypothetical scenarios, but it was hard to find what they could have done differently.
"If I had swum straight to the bottom, maybe he could have grabbed me," Gottesman said. "Maybe if we had gotten there 10 to 15 seconds earlier, it would have been a different story, but it's impossible to know."
Pospisil said he felt like he was on "auto-pilot" in the initial moments after he jumped off the canoe.
"I dove in a couple times, seeing if I could reach in or see or feel anything," he said. "I couldn't see at all."
If the five seniors in the canoe had not been so close to the rope swing, there was the risk that the older brother may have jumped in, Wilson said.
The 2013 Class Council advertised kegs of beer, Stinson's barbecue and music in an email to seniors. About 200 students attended River Fest, which is held annually over senior week, Anderson said.
Anderson said he did not know if alcohol was involved in the incident.
Interim President Carol Folt alerted the campus to incident in a campus email at around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. She announced the recovery of the body around noon on Thursday.
Dean of the College staff, counselors and the College chaplain were in Collis Common Ground throughout Wednesday night to support students. College services, including drop-in hours at the Tucker Foundation and the Undergraduate Deans Office, were available Thursday and Friday.
The College is in contact with the victim's family. Elizabeth Agosto, special assistant to the Dean of the College, said the response team will contact individuals with a direct relationship to the student affected.
Thibeault said that the Connecticut River sees a "major incident" every few years.
The College closed several swimming docks in June 2010 after concerns were raised about the river's depth and current. In August 2005, a student from Trinity College who was participating in the Tuck Business Bridge Program drowned in the Connecticut River.
