Personal Flotation Devices Fatality File

Man dies on Canyon Lake while wearing personal flotation device.

Canyon Lake had its first drowning of the season on Sunday, emergency responders said.

Canyon Lake Fire & EMS Chief Robert Mikel said units from his department arrived at the location of a reported drowning at 4:34 p.m. Sunday.

“It was reported that the victim, a man in his 40s, did not know how to swim but was wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) when he entered the water from a boat,” Mikel said. “Friends with him noticed that he was face down and still wearing the PFD when they pulled him from the water.”

Mikel said CLFEMS Fire Rescue Boat Marine 53 was already on the water near after a previous emergency call and responded to the area near Boat Ramp 7 and Party Cove.

“Upon arrival, the victim had been pulled out of the water and was aboard a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department game warden’s boat and CPR was in progress,” he said. “Emergency medical care continued as the patient was transported to a waiting ambulance at Boat Ramp 2.

“Unfortunately, life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.”

At 7:26 p.m. Sunday, CLFEMS was dispatched to the site of a near drowning, near Boat Ramp 6. Mikel said a 29-year-old man was on a boat pulling a tube when he jumped into the water to help a person thrown from the tube.

“The rope used to tow the tube became wrapped around the propeller, preventing the boat from returning to pick him up, Mikel said, adding the man, who was not wearing a PFD, became fatigued and started going underneath the lake surface.

“He was picked up by a pontoon boat and delivered to Boat Ramp 6, where EMS began treatment,” Mikel said. “He was transported in serious condition to Christus-New Braunfels Hospital.

CLFEMS worked the scene of a near-drowning of a woman in her late 20s on Saturday.

“At approximately 3:30 p.m., CLFEMS was dispatched to Comal Park for a possible drowning victim that had been pulled from the water,” the chief said. “A Precinct 4 constable was on scene performing CPR. A pulse was regained, and the patient was transported to Christus Santa Rosa-New Braunfels Hospital.”

Identities of those involved and other information in the incidents was not immediately available early Sunday evening.

The drowning is the second such death in the area this season, following that of a 28-year-old man from Mexico in the Guadalupe River on May 17.

The New Braunfels Police Department still has not released the name of the man, which it was withholding pending notification of next-of-kin. Canyon Lake reported six drownings last year, the last being Steven Blake Johnson, a 47-year-old Wimberley man whose body was recovered on Dec. 5, 2021.