Physique of lacking swimmer discovered after suspected drowning on Lake Lanier, authorities say

Authorities say they’ve discovered the physique of 21-year-old swimmer Terrell Shelton, who disappeared in Lake Lanier after what investigators describe as a suspected drowning.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office mentioned deputies responded to Robinson Park round 2:40 p.m. Saturday after receiving stories of a swimmer who had gone underwater and didn’t resurface.

According to investigators, the person was swimming with associates towards an island close to the park when he disappeared.

“When the friends looked back, they could no longer see him and believed he had gone underwater and did not resurface,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.

Deputies, Hall County Fire Rescue personnel and officers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene.

Marine models, rescue boats and dive groups searched the realm all through the afternoon and night. Authorities mentioned the water is roughly 30 toes deep the place the swimmer was final seen.

Dive operations continued till roughly 9 p.m. Saturday earlier than crews suspended the search as a consequence of darkness. Search efforts resumed Sunday morning.

The incident is the newest tragedy on Lake Lanier, one of many nation’s busiest leisure lakes and a physique of water that has turn into the topic of both public safety concerns and chronic folklore.

For years, Lake Lanier has occupied an outsized place in Georgia tradition. Online discussions regularly level to the realm’s difficult historical past, together with the stays of roads, buildings and cemeteries that have been flooded when the reservoir was created within the Nineteen Fifties.

Many additionally reference Oscarville, a predominantly Black neighborhood whose residents have been violently expelled from Forsyth County in 1912 earlier than the land was finally submerged beneath the lake many years later.

The historical past has fueled numerous theories, documentaries, podcasts and social media posts that painting Lake Lanier as cursed or haunted.

Public security officers, nonetheless, level to extra sensible explanations for the lake’s popularity. Millions of individuals go to Lake Lanier every year, and authorities frequently reply to boating accidents, drownings and water rescues. Underwater particles, sudden drop-offs, low visibility and heavy leisure visitors can create harmful situations for swimmers and boaters alike.

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