A YORK University graduate who left the city just last year has frozen to death in the icy waters of a Rocky Mountain lake.

Julia Cassidy, 22, who studied history and politics, died when a boat she and her companion used to go stargazing overturned, dumping them both into Whitefish Lake, Montana.

Julia's devastated parents were today being comforted at the family home in Wallington, Surrey. They lost their five-year-old son in a fire 13 years ago.

Julia went travelling after graduating from York University last September.

Sheriff Jim Dupont said Julia and her companion, Randall Bruckner, 30, who reportedly met on Saturday at The Big Mountain ski resort nearby, took out a boat to look at the stars. Randall had recently rented a place on the lake.

About 300 yards offshore, Julia reportedly stood up, Dupont said, and the boat flipped over.

Jim Stack, who lives nearby, went out to rescue them in a small kayak. He estimated the pair had been in the icy water for 15 minutes by the time he reached them. They appeared to be severely hypothermic, and Julia repeatedly lost her grip on the rear of the single-seat craft as Stack paddled toward shore.

"If I'd stayed there, I could have lost them both," Stack said. "So I made the decision to pull Randall to shore and come back for her."

Stack immediately paddled back to Julia but she was so stricken with hypothermia that he had to hold her head out of water, and then was unable to paddle. Stack said it took about 30 minutes for rescuers to reach them, and Julia could not be revived when they got to shore.

Neither Randall nor Julia was wearing a life-jacket. Randall was treated in hospital and then released.

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