Wednesday, March 25, 2015

WOMAN KILLED, MAN INJURED WHEN BOAT HITS ROCK OUTCROP IN LAKE LANIER, GEORGIA





MARCH 16, 2015

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

Authorities have released the names of a Buford couple involved in a fatal boating incident Sunday night off Hwy. 369 in the Chestatee Bay area of Lake Lanier.

According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the agency received a call about 9:20 p.m. that a rental boat carrying Young Tae Shim, 34, and So Yang Kim, 29, had run aground and capsized.

“Upon arrival, [authorities] found a Monterrey boat upside down on a rock outcropping on the Hall County side of the channel,” said DNR public information officer Mark McKinnon in a statement.

Kim was pronounced dead at the scene. Shim was taken by emergency personnel from Forsyth County to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.

“She was in the boat once it capsized and turned upside down,” said DNR Sgt. Lee Brown, adding that the couple is believed to have been married.

“The [man] was hollering for help. Some passer-by boats heard the screams and came over and helped,” Brown said.

The DNR’s critical incident reconstruction team was stationed Monday around the 36-foot boat, with two other boats in place to keep the public away from the scene, which was visible from Browns Bridge Road.

“The boat is still in the place where it rested after the incident, and so our guys are out there taking their pictures and doing their investigation to try and figure out what happened,” McKinnon said.

After receiving the call Sunday night, Hall firefighters and the Marine Rescue Team launched from Aqualand Marina near Flowery Branch on the lake’s south end, while Forsyth County firefighters launched from Port Royale Marina in northeast Forsyth, which was much closer to the site.