Listen to this story
Audio reading for accessibility.
Ready to play.
Table of Contents
FAYAL TOWNSHIP, Minn. — A 43-year-old Fayal Township man died Tuesday evening after falling from a paddleboard into Ely Lake while on the water with his juvenile daughter, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s deputies and Eveleth police officers were called to the lake at about 7:10 p.m. for a report of a possible drowning. Ely Lake is about five miles south of Eveleth.
Authorities said the man had been paddleboarding with his daughter when he fell into the water and became unresponsive. His daughter was able to pull her father a distance toward shore before other lake residents came to their assistance.
The group was able to get the man onto shore, where CPR was started.
Neither the man nor his daughter was wearing a life preserver at the time of the incident, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Family members, residents and emergency personnel continued lifesaving efforts, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man’s identity was being withheld pending notification of family.
The Eveleth and Gilbert police departments, Eveleth Ambulance, Virginia Ambulance, Life Link III air medical service and Fayal First Responders assisted the Sheriff’s Office at the scene.
