Elderly Man Dies While Swimming After His Boat on Central Maine Lake

It was a tragic series of events that unfolded over the weekend at a popular Maine lake that led to the death of a 74-year-old man.

According to an article that was published from WGME 13, the incident happened on Saturday afternoon on Maine's Damariscotta Lake. The news station is reporting that at about 1:45 in the afternoon on Saturday, Richard Eason, 74 of Florida, was launching his fishing boat in the lake.

Reports indicate that Eason has a summer home in Nobleboro, Maine and was launching his fishing boat at the Vannah Road boat launch. While Eason was parking his truck after the boat had been launched, it began to float away.

When Eason got back to the shoreline and saw the boat drifting away, he jumped in and began to swim after it. However as Eason was swimming, the boat was continuing to drift further from him.

WGME reports that Eason, who was not wearing a life jacket at the time, eventually disappeared un the surface of the water and did not come back up. Crews with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Damariscotta Fire and Nobleboro Fire Rescue responded to the scene, but couldn't locate Eason.

At that time, the Dive Team from the Maine Warden Service was called in to help search. Shortly after their arrival on scene, Eason's body was located in about 15 feet of water.

Eason's body was removed from the lake and transported to the Hall Funeral Home in the town of Waldoboro, Maine.

Our thoughts go out to Richard's family and friends during this difficult time.