Warning Issued To Lake Berryessa Swimmers After Second Drowning This Month
LAKE BERRYESSA (CBS SF/BCN) -- A man's body was recovered from Lake Berryessa in Napa County Sunday evening about 2.5 hours after he drowned, according to Henry Wofford, a spokesman for the Napa County Sheriff's Office.
Wofford said the man's friends contacted the Sheriff's Office around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, saying he had disappeared while trying to swim across the lake from the Oak Shores Day Use Area at 5560 Knoxville Road.
In addition to the sheriff's deputies, Cal Fire, American Medical Response and California Highway Patrol's Air Operations all responded.
The man's friends gave authorities his approximate location in the lake. Once the location was narrowed down, divers from the Sheriff's Office Underwater Search and Recovery Team searched for his body around 7 p.m. The body was located about 12 feet underwater, roughly 15 feet from McKenzie Ridge.
The coroner has identified the man as Marcos Salvador Grijalva Pocasangre, a 25-year-old resident of Guatemala who was visiting relatives in San Pablo.
People often assume that it is inexperienced swimmers who drown in Lake Berryessa, Wofford said, but this is the second weekend in a row an experienced swimmer has drowned in the lake.
Last summer, he said, six experienced swimmers drowned in the lake over the course of six months.
Some swimmers, who are visiting the lake for their first time and used to swimming in swimming pools, will misgauge the lake's currents or underestimate how fatigued they will get, Wofford said.