7News has learned from a clothing vendor who sets up right beside the river that every afternoon at around four a surge of water rolls down the river from the Vaca dam. She said she observed when the students - who have no familiarity with the river - and could not swim were swept off their feet by the wave. As is now well known 17 year-old Egar Puck and 16 year-old Anahi Zepeda were swept off into depths where they could not touch and they drowned.

She says they were wading in water up to their ankles and when it suddenly got higher, it swept them away.

BECOL's Vice President of Operations, Stephen Usher confirmed to us today that when the VACA Dam goes into operation in the morning it harnesses and then releases water at 10:00 am, which does reach San Ignacio around 4:00 pm. This, he says, is a normal part of power generation and he characterized it as quote, "not a massive amount of water."

Usher says depending on how much power they generate the water level in the river can increase anywhere from eight to ten inches, all the way up to two feet. He says the actual change in the river level varies depending on whether the water is passing through a wide or a narrow channel. He adds that the maximum amount of water they release would not cause a significant rise in the river, not comparable to a flood.