A Gainesville man died in a freak boating accident while fishing with his wife on Lake Lanier.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says 73-year-old Matthew Mayo drowned after falling into the water near Lanier Point.
On Wednesday, May 29, Mayo and his wife were fishing from a bass boat. When he tried to sit down in the seat, it became unbolted from the floor and caused him to fall into the lake. He did not resurface, says DNR Law Enforcement Public Affairs Officer Mark McKinnon.
According to McKinnon, a short time later, game wardens used boat-mounted SONAR to locate the subject in six feet of water.
Hall County Fire Rescue used a Remote Operated Vessel (ROV) to recover the body.
