Man vanishes in lake after boat strikes stump, Georgia officials say. Body found
A man’s body was found in a Georgia lake a day after officials said they received reports of a “possible drowning.”
State game wardens received a call about a missing boater who had been thrown into the water at Lake Seminole near Sealy’s Boat Landing at about 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division spokesperson Mark McKinnon told McClatchy News in a statement.
A day later, the man’s body was found by officials and identified as 55-year-old Colquitt resident Lonnie Lemar Grant, McKinnon said.
While driving his vessel back to the boat landing, the boater who called officials said his boat “drifted outside the channel markers,” McKinnon said. Then, the boat rammed into a stump and Grant was ejected from the boat, McKinnon said.
The boater told officials he tried to grab Grant and pull him back into the vessel but he was unsuccessful, according to the department.
When the report was received, search efforts started immediately by law enforcement, firefighters and state officials, McKinnon said.
Grant’s body was found by officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Decatur County Fire and Rescue the next day at about noon, McKinnon said. Discovered in approximately 14 feet of water, Grant’s body was within 50 yards from where the incident was originally reported, according to the department.
Lake Seminole is about 65 miles northwest of Tallahassee, Florida. Colquitt is 35 miles north of Lake Seminole.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Man vanishes in lake after boat strikes stump, Georgia officials say. Body found."
