Two people drown over holiday weekend

DINGMAN TOWNSHIP — Two people drowned in local lakes over the holiday weekend.
On July 1, the Dingman Township Fire Department was called to the Indian Trails Community Beach on Log Tavern Pond in Dingman Township, said Chief Mark O’Brien in a phone call. A family was boating together in kayaks, and one overturned.
No member of the Middletown, N.Y., family could swim, including 37-year old Lewis Sanders, who was in the kayak that tipped over. No one was wearing a life vest.
“It’s an 80-acre lake, and it’s a typical lake around here," said O'Brien. "The water is dark, especially when you get down to that depth. Log Tavern Pond is a cold spring-fed lake that in areas is over 100 feet deep. The search area ranged from 25-40 feet of water with the water temperature dipping as cold as 42 degrees."
Others around the lake tried to help but could not locate Sanders in the dark water. A 911 call went out around 3 p.m.
Apart from Dingman, Hemlock Farms Fire Department and EMS crews from Dingman Township, Milford, and Atlantic Ambulance ALS came to help in the search.
Although at the time of the accident, the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, it turned stormy during the search, which lasted until it got too dark to continue.
“In addition to the weather, the divers encountered multiple obstacles under the water including several sunken docks, tires, 55 gallon concrete-filled steel drums that were once used as anchors, and multiple discarded Christmas tree," O'Brien said.
He said there had been a summer camp around the lake, and over the years, docks and other material has been left behind in the lake.
Additional dive teams from the Bushkill, Ledgedal, Tafton, and Westfall Fire Departments came late Friday.
At sunrise Saturday morning, the dive teams got further help from Matamoras, Port Jervis, and Sparrowbush Fire Departments divers, and were able to locate Sanders three hours later.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission investigated the incident, and it has been ruled an accident.
The Dingman Fire Department also helped in the July 4 search on Lake Wallenpaupack in Wayne County, where a swimmer eventually was found drowned. O’Brien said the victim had been swimming off boat. An autopsy is being performed, he said.