HURRICANE – A 21-year-old Carbon County man died Sunday following an incident at Sand Hollow Reservoir the day prior. The man was identified as Nicholas Floyd by Utah State Parks officials via a statement released Monday.
Floyd had attempted to swim to the island in the middle of Sand Hollow and began to have trouble staying afloat, according to the statement and reports from the scene. Floyd’s friends attempted to assist him and called for help to a nearby search and rescue vessel.
A day-long, multicounty search and rescue training at Sand Hollow was taking place that day, and exercises suddenly turned real as search and rescue personnel and responders rushed to aid Floyd.
Read more: Statewide search and rescue training turns into real-life rescue
Life-saving procedures were initiated once Floyd was in the search and rescue boat and continued for about 45 minutes. During that time Floyd was taken to the main dock, where nearly 100 search and rescue and park rangers had responded.
“I stopped all of the training,” Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Cashin said, “and had Classic Air Medical fly over to the scene, and everyone started running to the main dock.”
Classic Air Medical flight medics had been on the south side of Sand Hollow involved in other aspects of the day’s training when the call to aid the nearly-drowned swimmer came in, and they flew over to render assistance.
Floyd was ultimately loaded in an ambulance and taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center. He was taken off life support Sunday at approximately 4-4:30 p.m.
He was not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident, according to the statement from Utah State Parks.
“Our hearts go out to the friends and family who have been impacted by this tragedy,” State Parks officials said in the statement.
“This is the 11th recreational drowning within Utah this year,” the statement continued. “The Division of State Parks and Recreation would like to remind everyone about the importance of wearing a life jacket when recreating on bodies of water.”
St. George News reporter Cody Blowers contributed to the story.
Ed. note: The last name of the diseased was reported in error as to its spelling and has been reported.
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