A Napa man drowned Monday in Lake Tahoe after his leg apparently was struck by a boat’s propeller, authorities said.
South Lake Tahoe police identified the man as 28-year-old David Castorena of Napa.
A call was received at 3:40 p.m. Monday about two people in danger on the lake. They reportedly had become separated from their rental boat about a mile offshore from the Lakeside Marina, in South Lake Tahoe near the state line.
Multiple agencies sent rescue crews, which were able to find one of the boaters immediately. The other, Castorena, was not found for 45 minutes. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Castorena had apparently been trying to climb into an inflatable tube tied to the back of the boat when he was struck by the propeller and suffered a major injury to his leg, police said. He was not wearing a life jacket.
The other man pulled from the water had only minor injuries. A third man had remained on the boat.
The death came two days after a pair of propeller injuries at New Hogan Lake, a reservoir in Calaveras County.
• In the first of Saturday’s injuries, the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office said, a person jumped off the bow of a boat just as its driver started turning to retrieve a fallen wakeboarder. The person who had jumped in was struck by the boat and driven underneath it by the impact. The person was then hit by the propeller, suffering major injuries to a shoulder and leg.
The boat’s driver stopped, and the victim was pulled aboard, where emergency treatment was administered by two teenagers. From the boat ramp, the injured person was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. The teenagers — a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy — are credited with saving the victim’s life, the sheriff’s office said.
• Three hours later, around 7 p.m., marine safety deputies were called to the “Cliffs” area of the lake, where they found that a swimmer had been struck by the propeller of an idling boat. The victim suffered a minor leg injury and was taken to a hospital. A 34-year-old Stockton man was arrested on suspicion of boating under the influence of alcohol.
