Dive teams located the body of a 21-year-old man who fell out of a kayak on Jan. 1 into Lake Santa Fe.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), sonar equipment was used to locate and recover the victim around noon on Friday, Jan. 3. The kayaker was discovered approximately 300 yards from the spot where he was last seen, said North Central FWC spokesperson Ashley Williams in an email to Mainstreet.
Law enforcement started searching for the kayaker on the evening of Jan. 1 when a call came in about a missing person and an abandoned kayak in Lake Sante Fe near Melrose.
Personnel from FWC, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and the Florida Highway Patrol responded to the call, and on Jan. 2, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office joined the search.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family and friends during this difficult time,” said Williams.
The FWC will continue to investigate the incident, and no further information is available at this time.
Where he was last scene?
100% irrelevant
You tell ‘em Mark
All details are of interest to any kayaker who worries how this could happen to them as well. What would cause his death? Inability to know how to get back into the kayak? Was the kayak found overturned? What part of the lake did this happen in? Where is this lake?
Did he die of exposure from the cold water or not know how to swim? Do alligators come around in this cold part of the year or are they a non-factor? Really weird to see someone silencing a person for simply asking a question. There are always a lot of questions unanswered in MSDN news articles that leave me wondering things and having people in here telling people to shut up over a question is ridiculous. If you don’t know the answer, you don’t need to chime in.
Also, what injuries were found on the body, if any? I would presume this was accidental and that he was kayaking alone and somehow fell out but that is not the only possiblity.