Three injured trying to save California teenager who drowned in lake, rescuers say

Despite a harrowing rescue attempt by his friends, a 16-year-old boy drowned Sunday on Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border, authorities say.

Divers on Monday recovered the body of Isaiah Benz of Canoga Park, California, under 35 feet of water in the lake’s South Basin, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Benz and others had gone swimming in the basin from a rented pontoon boat Sunday morning, but high winds pushed the boat away and he began to struggle in the water, according to the sheriff’s office.

His friends, also from Canoga Park and Palm Springs, tried to steer the boat to Benz, but an adult fell off and was cut by the propeller.

Two others jumped into the water to try to swim to Benz while the others rescued the man hit by the propeller, but they also began to struggle and had to be rescued. Benz went under.

All three injured rescuers were hospitalized in stable condition, sheriff’s officials said. A helicopter and divers searched for Benz Sunday before finding his body Monday.

It was at least the second drowning on the lake this month. Jorge Contreras, 16, of Rialto, California, died June 15 after his personal watercraft hit a boat on Lake Havasu a few days earlier, KTLA reported.

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