Divers from the Maine Warden Service on Monday morning recovered the body of a Portland man who was last seen Sunday night in Sebago Lake, trying to push a stalled boat away from shore.
Divers found the body of Ahmed Doale, 28, of Portland, around 9:15 a.m. in about 8 feet of water and 10 feet from shore, said Mark Latti, a spokesman for the Maine Warden Service.
Doale had been missing since around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Latti said Doale and another person were in an 18-foot, 1999 Regal motorboat when it broke down and drifted toward shore in an area of Sebago Lake State Park at the mouth of the Songo River.
Doale got out of the boat to push it free from shore near a steep, deep underwater drop. As he was pushing the boat out, he stepped into deep water. Doale, who did not know how to swim, went under and never surfaced, Latti said.
People on shore heard yelling and called 911. Game wardens, state park staff, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Casco Fire and Rescue, Raymond Fire and Rescue, Naples Fire Department and Naples Marine Patrol all responded. Using boats and spotlights, they searched for Doale for about two hours Sunday night but did not find him.
Four Maine Warden Service divers began another search around 8:30 a.m. Monday, Latti said, and recovered Doale’s body about 45 minutes later.
Latti said he did not know where Doale and the other person had taken the boat out or where they were headed. Latti said Doale’s body will be sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office to determine his cause of death.
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