KANE COUNTY, Utah — A man died by drowning at Lake Powell on Friday, and his body was located and recovered the next day.
Vi-Thien HA, a 30-year-old from Kearns, was boating in the Wahweap Bay area of the lake, just north of the Utah-Arizona border, when he and a woman stopped the boat and jumped in the water to swim. They were not wearing life jackets, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Office, and strong winds blew the boat away from them.
Officials said the woman managed to swim back to the boat, but HA went under and did not resurface. The woman then called 911 around 5:15 p.m. to report the accident.
A nearby patrol boat with the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation responded, along with the Kane County Sheriff's Office and National Park Service. The NPS used sonar to locate HA's body, about 30 feet deep. Their dive team then recovered his body on Saturday morning.
The state medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy to officially confirm the cause of HA's death, but the sheriff's office is calling it a drowning.
Kane County Sheriff Tracy Glover took the opportunity to remind people recreating on all bodies of water about the importantce of life jackets and "personal awareness of the elements at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
