Police and fire crews pulled a man’s body from the reservoir at Green Lane Park Sunday afternoon.
According to the state police, the man reportedly went missing the night before.
Around 2:40 p.m., police, rescue and fire crews pulled a man’s body out of the water and up a wooded slope in a rescue sled brought by the Red Hill Fire Company. The body was taken to an area near a green canopy that emergency personnel set up as their base of operations.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
A person from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office arrived on scene shortly before the man was pulled from the water to pronounce him dead.
The body was reportedly discovered near a steep, wooded bank leading down to the water. The area where it was reportedly found is near a picnic grove off of the park’s parking lot.
Upon the initial investigation, state police from Skippack said they believe this to be a case of accidental drowning.
“Something happened that he ended up in the lake,” said Lt. Erick Tuck of the state police.
He said there was a steep drop-off shortly after a person left the bank.
“You can only go out five feet and then it drops off,” Tuck said. “He was recovered in some pretty deep water.”
The state police headed the scene and were assisted by Green Lane Park Rangers. The deceased’s identity could not be released until his next of kin were notified.
The man was recovered wearing jeans and sneakers without waders.
Crews were searching the waters of the reservoir since at least 10:30 Sunday morning.
The Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit responded and provided divers to locate the man. At one point, at least two boats, including those from Telford’s diving unit and the Park Rangers, were out searching on the water.
Sonar was used at the scene to detect where the body may have been.
It seemed the man’s body was discovered before 2 p.m., as the Telford crew began packing up some of its gear and the firefighters used to help pull the body on the sled up the hill arrived around then.
Fishing gear was discovered on the bank near where the man was pulled from the water.
Those looking to enjoy the park’s water for the Labor Day weekend had to take a backseat to the search and investigation.
Park Rangers reportedly decided to suspend the rental of boats while the search was going on.
One family said Rangers and police kept them back from the picnic table nearest the point where the body was eventually recovered.
“They said they had an incident here last night and that was pretty much all,” Dave Arcraro said. Arcaro was at the park to fish Sunday in an alcove across the lake, but the suspension of boat rentals ended that plan.
An SUV belonging to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office drove back to the scene after 3 p.m., presumably to pick up the man’s body.
A tow truck also arrived at the scene around the same time and towed away a white SUV. The crew had the keys to the vehicle, which presumably were found among the gear on the bank and belonged to the deceased.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
