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NEED TO KNOW
- A missing 35-year-old man was found dead in a New York State lake on Aug. 18
- In the early morning hours the day before, he and a friend were kayaking when their vessel capsized
- Neither man was wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident
After two days of searching, authorities located the body of a missing 35-year-old man 70 feet below the surface of a lake in New York State after his kayak capsized.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 17, around 1:30 a.m. local time, Bo Soo Choi, who also goes by John Choi, and an unnamed friend went out on Cayuga Lake in upstate New York on their kayak, the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Investigators later determined that the men were attempting to make a turn in the kayak when the vessel capsized. Neither man was wearing a life jacket.
“One male was able to be rescued by bystanders,” officials continued. “Choi was unsuccessful in his attempt to get to shore.”
By approximately 1:45 a.m., several 911 calls came in to report people in distress in the water.
After deputies and first responders arrived at the area south of Sheldrake Point in Ovid, a small town in the Finger Lakes region, multiple people were assisted out of the lake, the sheriff’s office said. But officials realized that “one male was unaccounted for.”
A multi-agency search immediately commenced for the missing man, Choi, who hails from Flushing, Queens.
Drones, boats and firefighters participated in the search-and-rescue operation throughout the day, until they were stopped by nightfall.
On Monday, Aug. 18, at 6:30 a.m., crews restarted the search, eventually locating Choi’s body at 11:15 a.m. His body was “recovered from a depth of approximately 70 [feet] of water,” authorities said.
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His death has been classified as an “accidental drowning.”
The Seneca County Sheriff’s Office and Seneca County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for further information.
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In the press release, Seneca County Sheriff Timothy Thompson thanked the 17 other agencies that helped in the search efforts.
He also reminded people of the “importance of life preservers and having a safety plan in place” when out on the water.
