3 people have drowned at Lewisville Lake in 3 days
LEWISVILLE, Texas - Search teams recovered the body of a drowning victim from Lewisville Lake on Thursday afternoon. It’s the third incident at the lake this week.
The city of Highland Village confirmed the body of a 19-year-old man was retrieved from the lake at around 2 p.m. Thursday. The teen went swimming with friends Wednesday afternoon at the Highland Village swim beach and did not resurface.
"He had swam out to the buoy line that you can see back there, the red buoys. And as he was coming back he started struggling and went under. And they watched him go under and he did not resurface," said Cliff Swofford, a captain game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Search underway for 19-year-old at Lewisville Lake who never resurfaced
Search crews are investigating a possible drowning after a teen went swimming but never resurfaced.
Crews from both the Lewisville and Highland Village fire departments spent hours searching Wednesday evening. Game wardens also assisted with the search.
The teen's identity has not been released at this time.
Two other men drowned in Lewisville Lake earlier this week.
Swofford said he got the call about the third possible victim right after crews recovered the second victim’s body.
On the Fourth of July, a 45-year-old man went out on a pontoon boat with friends in the Lake Cities area of Lake Lewisville.
They anchored and went swimming in the middle of the lake. The man, who was not wearing a life jacket, reportedly went underwater and never came back up.
His body was later recovered near the north end of the lake.
On Monday night, another man swimming in the public beach area of Lake Park drowned.
Witnesses said 19-year-old Carlos Munoz was swimming near a buoy when he went under.
Teen swimmer drowns in Lewisville Lake Monday night
Witnesses say the teenager was swimming by a buoy without a life jacket when he went under.
They believe he may have gotten tangled in the ropes.
He also was not wearing a life jacket.
"Every place is different, so if you do know your limitations and if you’re not a strong swimmer, just don’t get over your head or try not to. If you wear a life jacket, I’m going to keep harping on that, if you wear a life jacket this is not going to happen," Swofford said.
The third search mission in as many days underscores how overall awareness is so badly needed.
"All the outreach we can do, and we have program after program, and we wish really what would change is people would heed the warnings we set. Because none of these guys were doing anything wrong, they weren’t doing anything illegal, they were just swimming and it’s a tragedy. Our hearts break for the families," said Swofford.