A 25-year-old man who died while swimming at East Canyon State Park Sunday has been identified as Shervin Rayeneh, from North Salt Lake.
Lt. Eric Stucki with Utah State Parks says Rayeneh was boating with friends and family at the reservoir Sunday. Rayeneh jumped into the water with friends, and after some time, he began to struggle with swimming. Stucki says Rayeneh tried to return to the boat, went under the water and didn’t come back up.
“The family, of course, did a quick, hasty search, and there were other boaters in the area that actually came over and assisted in a quick, hasty search," Stucki said. "One of the boaters had good cell service and called 911 and reported it, which activated our search teams from the various counties—from Weber, Morgan and Summit County, and then State Parks—to arrive shortly before 4 p.m. and start a search in the area of where he was last seen at.”
Later that evening, the search team found Rayeneh’s body through sonar, and an underwater remote operated vehicle dived down to pull him up. Divers retrieved the body from the vehicle and brought him back to shore.
Rayeneh’s body has been taken to the medical examiner to determine what happened, but Stucki says the reservoir is particularly cold from the snowmelt runoff, and Rayeneh wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
"When the body gets in a cold water situation like that, sometimes hypothermia can set in," Stucki said. "Also, if you’ve been out on the day for a long time, there may be dehydration, which your body may not function properly as well. And also, you can have cramping that can occur from both of those things as well."
East Canyon reservoir and all the state park lakes remain open, but Stucki urges people to wear life jackets, especially while the water is so cold.
