Buford man drowns in Lake Lanier after falling off boat while trying to get hat, officials say

A 71-year-old Buford man's boating trip to Lake Lanier ended in tragedy after officials say he fell into the Georgia lake and drowned on Saturday.

Officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tell CBS News Atlanta that the agency's game wardens responded to reports of a drowning near Three Sisters Island around 3:28 p.m.

Witnesses told investigators that 71-year-old Kim Gregory Battle was operating his boat when he lost his hat. Battle stopped the vessel and went to the back of the boat to retrieve it, but slipped and fell overboard.

The DNR game wardens as well as officials with the Forsyth and Hall County sheriff's offices, fire departments and dive teams searched the area with boat-mounted SONAR and other equipment.

Game wardens found Battle in 11 feet of water at around 5:30 p.m. His body was recovered using a Remote Operated Vessel a short time later.

This is at least the third reported drowning at the Georgia lake this year. In July, officials recovered the body of 60-year-old Glenn Cunningham after he disappeared while in the water at Shoal Creek Campground. Less than a month before, 21-year-old Terrell Shelton went underwater and didn't resurface while swimming with friends.