Man, 23, is second drowning victim in 2 days on Atlanta-area lakes

A 23-year-old man drowned while swimming Thursday in Allatoona Lake, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Credit: Greg McCary

Credit: Greg McCary

A 23-year-old man drowned while swimming Thursday in Allatoona Lake, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

A 23-year-old man drowned while swimming in Allatoona Lake Thursday afternoon, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The body of Alonso Feliciano Alvarado Tojin, of Cartersville, was located in 10 feet of water around 6 p.m., the DNR said. He was found less than two hours after he was last seen swimming in the Cooper’s Day Use Area in Bartow County.

It was the second drowning reported on Atlanta-area lakes in as many days.

On Wednesday, a man who was fishing with his wife on Lake Lanier drowned after falling from his boat, according to the DNR.

Investigators said they believe that when Matthew Mayo, of Gainesville, tried to sit in a seat on the bass boat, it became unbolted from the bottom, causing him to fall into the water. Mayo, 73, did not resurface.

Wardens, along with Hall County deputies and firefighters and Gainesville police officers, were called to Lanier Point to search for the man. His body was located using a SONAR device in six feet of water, the DNR said. A remote-operated vessel was then able to recover Mayo’s body.

On Thursday, wardens along with the Bartow County fire department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assisted with the recovery at Allatoona. After a SONAR device located Tojin, and a dive team recovered his body, the DNR said.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, two people drowned in Georgia, but neither were in Lanier or Allatoona, the DNR previously said.

On Sunday afternoon, a 33-year-old man died from an apparent drowning at Massengale Park beach on Saint Simons Island, the Glynn County fire department said. A lifeguard was alerted to a man in distress and pulled him from the water. He was not conscious and died at a Brunswick hospital.

Then on Monday afternoon, a body was found in a private pond in Muscogee County, according to the DNR. Investigators believe the body may have been in the pond for at least two days.