3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2017
Young swimmer dies off North Cove
After about 20 minutes,
the deputy saw Le disappear
beneath the water. A person in
the helicopter reported that Le
was “clearly underwater and
not moving.”
Just as the rescuers in
the boat located Le, the tide
turned, and quickly dragged
him out of sight.
“The tide was shifting, and
I think (Le) submerged more.
It got to where they couldn’t
find him, Matlock said. “They
continued to search until about
10, and then ceased due to
lighting conditions.”
Rescuers saw
20-year-old but
couldn’t reach
him in time
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
NORTH COVE, Wash. —
A young Snohomish County
man who disappeared while
swimming in North Cove on
Sunday is presumed dead.
Connor Kim Le, 20, dis-
appeared while rescuers were
trying to reach him, Chief
Criminal Deputy Pat Matlock
of the Pacific County Sheriff’s
Office said .
The investigation is still
underway, Matlock said
According to a social media
profile, Le was a student at
Everett Community College.
He was apparently staying
with friends from Marysville
and Lake Stevens in a vaca-
tion home in the “Washaway
Beach” area, Matlock said. At
some point on Sunday evening,
Le and some of his friends —
all men in their early 20s —
decided to go swimming. They
went into the water shortly
before low tide, when waves
were about 3 feet tall.
Just before 7 p.m. , Pacific
County
911
dispatchers
received a call from a woman
who said a man was strug-
gling in the water near Willow
Lane. The woman said one of
his friends was going into the
water to try to help him.
Like much of North Cove,
Willow Lane is subject to the
severe erosion that has already
destroyed several streets and
dozens of homes. The con-
stantly changing beach condi-
tions, debris, remote location
and powerful current make for
extremely dangerous swim-
ming conditions, Matlock said.
A fast response
A deputy was already in the
area, so he was able to respond
quickly. He spoke with the per-
son who made the report and
Common factors
EO Media Group/File Photo
Washington’s North Cove beach area is where a Snohomish County, Washington, man
apparently drowned while swimming with friends Sunday evening.
called the U.S. Coast Guard,
which dispatched a helicop-
ter and a boat. According to
the deputy’s report, once the
swimmers were well away
from shore, the combination
of cold water, fatigue and a
strong rip current made it dif-
ficult for them to make it back
to the beach. The other men
made it back, but Le struggled
to make any progress toward
the shore.
“He swam out too far,”
Matlock said.
Almost rescued
Initially, the deputy could
see Le roughly 150 yards off-
shore. When the Coast Guard
helicopter arrived, he used his
radio to guide the pilot toward
Le. The helicopter personnel
spotted Le, and tried to direct
the arriving boat to the right
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spot. However, by that point,
Le had been in the water for
about an hour. At the time, air
and water temperatures were
both in the mid-50s. Accord-
ing to a Coast Guard publica-
tion, most people can only sur-
vive about one or two hours in
those conditions.
Le’s death involved several
factors that appear to be com-
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A 2014 Chinook Observer
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