A 49-year-old man drowned at Lake Shasta on Saturday, July 4, while he was trying to help a group of youths who were in the water. Authorities identified the deceased man, in a statement, as Oakland resident Antonio Fernandez.
Witnesses said Fernandez was part of a group of friends and family swimming across a cove, attempting to help a group of children with a personal watercraft, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in the statement. Fernandez slipped under the water and did not resurface.
Deputies from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Boating Safety Unit responded to the drowning just before 1 p.m. on Saturday, arriving at the shore of Old Man Campground, located along a finger of the northwest corner of the reservoir, near Gooseneck Cove and Beehive campgrounds. Personnel from the California Highway Patrol Northern Division Air Operations, the U.S. Forest Service and the sheriff’s dive team also arrived. Divers recovered the deceased’s body from the lake, the sheriff’s office said. The reasons why Fernandez went under the water are unknown…