One man pulled aboard by nearby boaters, but CPR failed to revive
Two anglers died over the weekend on Lake Marion after their boat capsized around 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The cause of the accident hasn’t been determined, but other boaters said that many floating logs were present on the surface all weekend, along with logs and other debris that are just floating just below the surface.
The two victims haven’t been named yet, because one of the bodies has not been recovered. One of the men, a 55-year-old, was found not long after the accident, but the other man, who is reported to be 72-years-old, has not been found.
SCDNR spokesman Capt. Robert McCullough, said the two men were fishing on Third Water Cove when their boat sank. Some other nearby boaters threw a life jacket to one man, who slipped under water and was not seen again. They were able to pull the 55-year-old aboard their boat, where they attempted CPR but were unable to revive him.
Dive teams searched for the man’s body for the past two days, but that search has now been suspended.
“We have called off the divers, but we will continue to search by boat and from the air. We will continue to search the surface of the lake,” said McCullough.
Bryan Floyd of Sumter was on the same lake Saturday, and while he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of what caused the two men’s boat to sink, he noted that he saw a lot of debris above and just below the water’s surface. That debris, he said, caused one of his friends to lose his outboard motor and injure his arm.
“A friend of mine actually hit an object just below the surface and tore his motor completely off. He was thrown out and hurt his arm pretty bad. He is an experienced boater. It just goes to show you that you should always wear a life jacket and be award of what lies beneath,” said Floyd.
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