CANYON LAKE, Texas – A man drowned Sunday at Canyon Lake despite wearing a life vest, Canyon Lake Fire/EMS Chief Robert Mikel said.
Crews responded to the lake between Boat Ramp 7 and Party Cove just after 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Friends of the man said he did not know how to swim, but he was wearing a personal flotation device when he got into the water from a boat.
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“Friends that were with him noticed that he was face down and still wearing the PFD when they pulled him from the water,” Mikel said.
Texas Parks & Wildlife game wardens were the first on the scene and started CPR until he was transported to a waiting ambulance.
“Unfortunately, life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene,” Mikel said.
The man was 50 years old. His identity has not been released.
It wasn’t the only emergency call on the lake last weekend. Crews responded to two other near-drownings.
The first happened at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Comal Park. A woman, 29, was pulled from the water by bystanders. A Precinct 4 Constable was on the scene and performed CPR until she regained a pulse. The woman was taken to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in New Braunfels for treatment. There’s no word on her condition.
On Sunday evening, Canyon Lake Fire/EMS responded to another near-drowning incident near Boat Ramp 6.
Mikel said a 29-year-old man nearly drowned after jumping in the water from a boat to help a person who had been thrown from a tube. The man wasn’t wearing a life vest.
“The rope used to tow the tube became wrapped around the prop, preventing the boat from returning to pick him up. He became fatigued and began going under the water,” Mikel said.
The man was pulled from the water by someone in a pontoon boat and taken to the boat ramp where EMS began treatment.
He was transported in serious condition to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Marcos, Mikel said.