Hopkins man drowns after falling off boat
(Credit: MGN)
A Hopkins man died Saturday after falling off a boat during a fishing trip with friends up north.
The Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded to a report of a man overboard on Elm Island Lake in Nordland Township at around 4 p.m.
Officials learned that a group of friends had been fishing for about two hours when the man — who had been drinking and wasn’t wearing a life jacket — fell off the edge of the boat and never resurfaced.
One of the victim’s friends jumped in to try to find him but wasn’t able to, as the water was too murky, the sheriff’s office says.
A dive team was called and the man’s body was recovered around 8 p.m.
He was later identified as 25-year-old Daniel Thomas Nelson.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Nelson’s death as a freshwater drowning.