Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
Lake Lanier is in media headlines again after a 46-year-old man passed away while swimming in it. Hasani Kamau Widemond was reportedly aiming to get to his boat. However, according to WSB-TV, he drowned in the process.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources revealed the incident occurred on Saturday, August 31, before 2 p.m. Additionally, it appears that Widemond went under while swimming in Lake Lanier, but failed to resurface. The exact reason for that remains unclear.WSB-TV reports that game wardens discovered the 46-year-old’s body using sonar mounted to a boat. Ultimately, divers recovered his body in 25 feet of water.
Multiple emergency responders, from the county sheriff’s office to two fire departments, responded to the incident.No additional details about the drowning or Hasani Kamau Widemond are available at this time.
Just as Lake Lanier is ending the summer with a death, it began the season with two. As previously reported, a 74-year-old man died at the recreational lake on May 29. Matthew Mayo and his wife were fishing when he fell overboard. He never resurfaced, and divers later pulled his body from six feet of water.
Days later, 76-year-old Jim Hansard’s body was found after nine hours missing. A friend reported the disappearance to the cops after finding Jim’s vacant golf cart by Lake Lanier and his floating shoe in the water. Officials pulled Hansard’s body from 13 feet of water.
The Gainsville Times reports that at least six people died from drowning at Lanier in 2022 and nine in 2023. In late August, ‘Surviving Lake Lanier’ premiered on Amazon Prime. The docuseries recounts stories from people who nearly lost their lives at the summer hotspot, per 11Alive.
Additionally, TSR Investigates’ Justin Carter breaks down the history of the man-made lake below.
