3rd Drowning This Month Reported At Lake Travis

AUSTIN, TX — A swimmer is presumed to have drowned at Lake Travis on Sunday, with a rescue effort switched to one of recovery by nightfall when a search for the victim proved futile.

The incident occurred at Bob Wentz Park at around 6:30 p.m. when a woman in her 30s experienced distress in the water, prompting a man jumped into the water to try help her. But while the woman was pulled from the water alive by others, the would-be rescuer never came back to the surface.

By early evening, emergency officials changed their mission to one of recovery, a term referring to the foregone conclusion that the man drowned. The focus at first light on Monday, Memorial Day, will be on finding his body after officials called off the search due to darkness.

Officials said the missing man, who was not wearing a life jacket, was one of three who attempted to rescue the woman in distress. The woman who nearly drowned was taken to the hospital in unknown condition but with injuries not expected to be life-threatening.

The drowning is the third at Lake Travis this month alone. The body of Manuel Salas, 53, of Elgin, Texas, has yet to be recovered after he jumped into the water without re-surfacing on May 5. Two weeks later, a woman in her 20s fell into Lake Travis from the upper deck of a party barge on May 19, possibly hitting her head on the way down. Like that of Salas, her body also has yet to be recovered from the depths of Lake Travis.

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Lake Travis has gained a reputation as one of deadliest lakes. Since summer 2016, there have been other drownings at the man-made body of water originally intended as a reservoir for flood waters:

• In June 2016, the body of a man in his 30s was pulled from Lake Travis after he went missing in the Little Devils Hollow portion of the lake. The county sheriff's office had received calls about a body that was seen floating on the lake before retrieving the corpse at the Emerald Point Marinaportion of the lake.
• In July 2016, a 2-year-old girl drowned after falling off a dock into Lake Travison a Saturday evening. When Travis County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived at the scene, they the child fell off a boat dock at a private residence in the 8000 block of Lakeview St.
• In August 2016, the family of Olman Ramirez took it upon themselves not to give up the search for their loved one who went missing at Lake Travis, ultimately finding his body at south marina shore. The man was reported missing early evening after he jumped into the lake to help a friend who fell from the party boat in which they were traveling on the lake's surface. Family members found the body four days later. A Travis County officials told Patch at the time that stronger-than-normal winds ahead of a line of thunderstorms may have contributed to the drowning, given its effect on the currents.
• On Jan. 19, 2017, Cody Quincy May, 31, of West Haven, Conn., drowned after trying to join his children on a raft, according to Travis County Sheriff's Office officials. Witnesses told police several of May's children were playing on a raft near the shoreline when May began walking out to the raft and suddenly stepped into deep water. He immediately began to struggle while calling for help. A nearby fisherman tried to go to his aid, but arrived too late to save him. May had moved his family to Austin just a week before his death.
• In May 2017, the body of a 21-year-old man was pulled from Lake Travis. The man had been cliff diving after arriving at the site on a party barge filled with friends.
• In June 2017, Travis County Sheriff's Office officials identified Brian Robinson, 31, of White Plains, N.Y., as the victim of a June 11 drowning. Like Olman, Robinson had been on a party barge before falling into the water. Just the day before, Lower Colorado River Authority officials had re-opened Lake Travis after shutting down access on June 6 due to altered flood-related conditions that made it too dangerous for recreational use. Water levels by then began receding after earlier heavy downpours, and stood at a level of just over 690 feet, officials said at the time.

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