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El Monte Man Presumed Dead in Lake Mohave Drowning
Years of lower water levels caused this at Boulder Canyon in Lake Mead | Photo by AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker via Flickr
John Silva was last seen jumping off a boat into the water to cool off yesterday afternoon. But soon after entering the water without a life jacket, the 42-year-old El Monte resident began to struggle to stay afloat, prompting a friend to dive in for an attempted rescue. However, Silver went underwater before he could be reached and is presume drowned after a two-hour searched, to be continued tomorrow, provided no results.
In an unrelated incident, a 38-year-old Las Vegas man died when his personal watercraft was broadsided by another. The driver of the other watercraft was arrested for operating under the influence of alcohol.
“The two main messages we stress are wear your life jacket and boat sober. The preliminary investigations indicate these two deaths were preventable,” said Lake Mead National Recreation Area Chief Ranger Mary Hinson in a statement.
The Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which includes Lake Mohave, has not been having a good year, at least in recent news. In late April, water levels were down by 14 feet in Lake Mead. And last week, before an expected 200,000 holiday weekend visitors descended upon the popular Nevada destination (some of it extends into California) for Southern Californians,a mass of dead carp washed up on Lake Mohave's shore for unknown reasons.
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