Body found after 27-year-old vanishes while boating with friends, Georgia cops say
The body of a man who went under during a boat trip with friends has been found, according to his family and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Crews pulled 27-year-old Ramon Diaz-Soria's body from Lake Lanier on Sunday, June 15, after an extensive search that started the day before, said DNR spokesman Mark McKinnon.
Game wardens used sonar to find the missing boater and recovered his body in 60 feet of water, McKinnon said.
Authorities said Diaz-Soria jumped from the boat into the water in a residential cove near Vanns Tavern Park in Gainesville on June 14. However, family members said he was celebrating a friend's birthday when he suddenly fell in the lake, WSB-TV reported.
'I guess they were stopping at an island or something, and he fell into the water within seconds,' a friend, Melanie Meza, told the news station. 'They tried to get him and after five minutes, there was no luck.'
DNR officials said Diaz-Soria was wearing a life vest, but it wasn't secured properly.
'Once in the water, he went under and did not resurface, leaving his life jacket floating on the surface,' DNR officials said.
Crews searched until dark June 14 and resumed the following morning, officials said. Game wardens and the Forsyth County Fire/EMS dive team found Diaz-Soria's body at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, WSB-TV reported, citing officials.
His sister, Abigail Diaz, remembered her brother as the 'light of their family,' according to WAGA. She said he worked with Hispanic youth and helped provide for their family financially, the station reported.
'I just wanted to run to the lake and jump in there,' Abigail Diaz told the station. 'And I myself don't know how to swim, but I feel like as anybody would when it comes to their family members, especially a sibling.'
Diaz-Soria's body was released to the coroner's office, DNR officials said.
Gainesville is about a 50-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.
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