The Georgia Department of Natural Resources continued the search for the remains of Kaiyan Ding, 29 of Atlanta on Sunday after he drowned in Lake Lanier on Saturday afternoon.
Hall County Fire Rescue received a 9-1-1 call on Saturday, June 18 about a possible drowning near Holiday Marina in the southern part of Hall County. HCFR’s Water Rescue 1 responded at approximately 2 p.m. in an attempt to save Ding.
Witnesses to the drowning said that Ding had been on a boat and went overboard. At the time the 9-1-1 call had been placed, Ding had already been missing for 10 minutes.
The area in which Ding went under is in the open water and is between 60 to 100 feet deep with standing timber. This is a high traffic area with very choppy water which added to the difficulties in locating him by both Hall County and Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Game Wardens using SONAR equipment.
Hall County suspended rescue efforts and turned the scene over fully to the Georgia DNR at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Game Wardens continued through the night searching for Ding. They were forced to suspend their search efforts but resumed searching for Ding at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
The remains of Ding have yet to be located and DNR will once again resume searching for him on Monday morning.
