A Memorial Day boating incident ended in tragedy near Mandeville.
Deputies with the STPSO Marine Division, assisting Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, recovered the body of a missing boater at approximately 7 p.m. Monday. The body was located in Lake Pontchartrain, just east of the Causeway bridge. The body was turned over to the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office, who will make a positive identification and a determination on cause of death.
The man was not wearing a life vest at the time of the incident.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m., members of the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Marine Division were dispatched to Lake Pontchartrain in reference to a capsized boat. The boat, a 31-foot twin inboard/outboard motorboat, was occupied by six adults when another boater observed it flip and begin sinking just west of the cabins at Fontainebleau State Park.
Five of the occupants had been rescued by other boaters prior to deputies’ arrival, but one occupant was unaccounted for.