Young man drowns at Knysna Lagoon

At 17h34, Saturday, 13th December, NSRI Knysna duty crew were activated following a call from the Police reporting that they were responding to a drowning in progress at The Point on the Knysna Lagoon.Our duty crew responded our sea rescue vehicle and NSRI rescue swimmers responded directly to the scene to join Police.On arrival on-scene it was established that a local family had been at the lagoon for the day when a group of them, believed to have been at least 5 people, had launched a canoe onto the lagoon. It appears that the canoe may have been too heavy and tipped causing some of the occupants to fall out when a 22 year old male, who was one of the people who fell out of the canoe, had reportedly disappeared under water.NSRI rescue swimmers, joined by a Police Dive Unit officer, formed a sweeping line search, free diving and wading, in an effort to find the missing man while additional Police Dive Unit members responded to join in the search.During the sweeping line search we located the body of the man and assisted the Police diver to recover the body from the water.The body of the deceased man has been handed into the care of the Forensic Pathology Services and Police have opened an inquest docket.