A North Carolina couple floating on the Guadalupe River on Sunday apparently lost their hoses and was carried away in the current, drowning the woman and sending the man to a local hospital, authorities said.
Jennifer Smith, Public Information Officer for the Comal County Sheriff’s Office, said CCSO MPs responded to a residence at 600 off Riverside Path in Canyon Lake because of a possible drowning.
“When the MPs arrived, Canyon Lake Fire and EMS had pulled a man and a woman out of the Guadalupe River,” said Smith. “EMS began resuscitating the male and the female was found dead on arrival.”
District 1 Justice of the Peace Tom Clark pronounced Manishabahen Patel, 37, dead at the scene and ordered an autopsy. Smith said the 33-year-old man was transported to Resolute Hospital in New Braunfels and has since been released.
“CCSO and Texas Parks and Wildlife were also there, but we couldn’t gather any information about what exactly happened,” said Canyon Lake Fire interim chief Robert Mikel. “We removed the female victim without a search, she looked like she had been in the water for quite a while; the male had water in his lungs and we treated it on site before transporting it. “
Smith said witnesses living in the house were on their balcony when they saw the couple, both from Charlotte, NC, in the river.
“(They) reported that the male was fighting in the river calling for help while pulling (the female) ashore,” she said, adding that no children were involved and the man and woman apparently were inflatables themselves.
“They were visiting friends who live in Canyon Lake,” said Smith. “No public facilities were closed and the deputies cleared the crime scene shortly before 4 p.m. The investigators are currently conducting a thorough investigation. “
The apparent drowning is the ninth on the region’s waterways and the fourth on the Guadalupe this year.
On June 13, Victor Villanueva, 30, and Casandra Kendrick, 22, both from Guadalupe County, died saving the lives of two children near 1117 Farm-to-Market Road bridge. On July 30, the body of 18-year-old Jesus Miguel Romero from New Braunfels was discovered near a river bank on the 1200 block of Gruene Road.
On July 2, Albert L. Aranda, 62, of Farmington, New Mexico, died after passing the municipal Tube Chute on the Comal River.
Celestin Mc-Angy, 26, from Schertz, died at Canyon Lake on June 14 between Cranes Mill Park and Comal Park; Joel Jijo, 22, of Houston, last seen between boat ramps # 5 and # 6 on May 29, was found on June 2; Brian James Stein, 33, of Denver, Colorado, died on April 26 near Boat Ramp 11 above Rebecca Creek Park, and David Alberto Guerra, 34, of Houston, drowned on March 17 while trying to get children in Rescue near the shoreline of Canyon Park.
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