The body of a 19-year-old was pulled from Lake Lanier on Thursday evening after he went underwater during a swim and never resurfaced, officials said.
The drowning was reported about 7:30 p.m. at Young Deer Creek in Forsyth County, Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark McKinnon said Friday. Authorities said the man, later identified as Sathvik Kothapu of Cumming, was trying to swim across the cove, but got tired and couldn’t make it.
DNR game wardens, Forsyth deputies and members of the fire department’s dive team were called to the lake and discovered the Kothapu’s body in 22 feet of water about 9 p.m., McKinnon said.
Thursday’s drowning marks the third death on Lake Lanier this year, authorities said.
In April, a 20-year-old South Carolina man drowned while swimming at Sunrise Cove Marina in Gainesville, officials said. Dorian Adonis Pinson rented a pontoon with two others and attempted to go swimming, but they were unable to make it back to the boat. Two people were rescued, but the Greenville man’s body was never recovered.
And earlier this month, the body of 23-year-old Anthony Saintil was recovered from Lake Lanier more than 24 hours after he jumped off a pontoon near Flat Creek.
The day after Saintil’s death, two Gwinnett County siblings were critically injured when their family’s boat exploded during a Mother’s Day outing. The explosion happened near Margaritaville as the boat was refueling at the gas docks at the Port of Indecision, officials said.
The siblings, a 13-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister, remain in the hospital.
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