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.