The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says three people drowned on Georgia’s waterways over the long Labor Day holiday weekend. The most recent reported drowning was on Lake Lanier.
According to DNR Law Enforcement Division spokesperson Mark McKinnon, game wardens were notified around 8:30 Monday morning of a body found floating near East Bank Park.
The body appears to be that of a middle-aged man and was recovered by Gwinnett County Fire.
The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s preliminary investigation indicates the man likely had a medical episode, fell into the water and drowned, says McKinnon. As of late Monday, officials still had not released his name.
Elsewhere, a family outing turned tragic on Lake Oconee in Central Georgia after a grandfather drowned while wading with his young grandson.
According to a witness, the man was wading in a shallow area of a cove in Richland Creek on Sunday when he fell and did not resurface. Bystanders removed the man from the water and began CPR. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Farther south, in Wilkinson County, a man drowned Saturday while canoeing on the Oconee River.
Witnesses told state game wardens the man’s canoe overturned just south of Balls Ferry State Park. The man fell into the river and did not resurface.
State game wardens and Johnson County deputies located and recovered his body Sunday evening. They identified as Ross Jeffrey Roberts Jr., age 41, of Eatonton.
In addition to the drownings, the DNR reports that, as of 8 p.m. September 6, game wardens worked five boating accidents and issued thirteen citations for boating under the influence over the long weekend.
All of the BUIs were in North Georgia and of those, six were on Lake Lanier.
DNR’s holiday reporting period ends at 11:59 p.m. on September 6.
This article includes updated figures for BUIs and boating accidents.
