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Authorities in South Dakota say an active-duty airman from Ellsworth Air Force Base was the man who drowned Saturday afternoon at Pactola Reservoir west of Rapid City.
The name of 20-year old Airman 1st Class Weds Byssainthe (Wades BEE-Sawnt) was released Monday morning.
Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller says first-responders were called to the Pactola Point Picnic area about 5:20 after Byssainthe fell off a stand-up kayak, went under the water, and did not come back up.
Friends who saw the incident went in to try to rescue him, but swift currents and the cold water hampered them.
Law enforcement and South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks personnel were on the scene in less than 10 minutes with the Pennington County Water Rescue Team arriving a short time later.
Four boats with side-scan sonar and a remotely-operated underwater vehicle began the search and found the body within a couple of hours. Divers then removed it from the water.
Sheriff Mueller was at the scene and attributes the quick recovery to the coordinated efforts of all the teams involved. He also says “Our thoughts and prayers are with Byssainthe and his family at this painful time.”\
Colonel Derek Oakley, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing and Ellsworth Air Force Base, says Ellsworth and the Air Force “lost a member of the family” and “We share in the sorrow felt by his loved ones, and the loss of one of our own affects all of us.”
Colonel Oakley says the Air Force and Ellsworth extend the deepest condolences to Byssainthe’s family and friends with the focus right now on his family in this difficult time.”