A dive team has recovered the body of a man who drowned at Lake Lanier on Saturday, June 18.
Nine days after 29-year-old Atlanta resident Kaiyan Ding went under the lake waters and never resurfaced, Lake Lanier Recovery Divers, a private diving company, recovered his body on Monday, June 27. According to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Ding, who was on a pontoon boat with friends, had gone into the water to retrieve a hat that had blown overboard.
On June 18, Hall County Fire Rescue received a 911 call about a possible drowning near Holiday Marina in the southern part of Hall County. At the time of the call, Ding had been missing for 10 minutes. HCFR’s Water Rescue 1 responded at approximately 2 p.m. in an attempt to save him.
According to officials, the area in which Ding went under is in open water and is between 60 to 100 feet deep with standing timber in a high traffic area with choppy waters, which made recovery difficult.
The body was found in 76 feet of water close to the area where Ding had disappeared.