Police recover body while searching for missing paddlers

Rescue teams searching for two missing stand-up paddle boarders on Lake Walensee recovered a body from a depth of 100 metres, SRF reported. The person’s identity has not been confirmed, and it remains unclear whether the body is that of one of the missing men. The search operation is continuing.

Glarus cantonal police said specialists from Zurich cantonal police and the lake rescue service found the person during the search. A police spokeswoman later told the Keystone SDA news agency that authorities believed the body was probably one of the missing stand-up paddle boarders. Identification is still required to establish this definitively.

Another man is certainly still missing.

The two missing 32 year old men from Hungary were part of a group of five that went onto the lake on three stand-up paddle boards from the Gäsi bathing area on Thursday afternoon. The group was caught by suddenly rising strong winds and waves in the middle of the lake, according to an earlier police statement.

The three boards drifted apart in the storm. Two people, one of whom was wearing a life jacket, reached the shore independently. The lake rescue service recovered another person wearing a life jacket from the water.

According to the findings so far, the two missing men were not wearing life jackets and could not swim well.