LAKE PERRIS -The bodies of two men who drowned at Lake Perris were recovered today.
The drownings were reported shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday near Alessandro Island, according to California State Parks.
Rangers said two men were in the boating zone, aboard a tube, when one toppled into the water and couldn’t stay afloat, prompting his friend to go in after him. Both then disappeared underwater.
Riverside County Fire Department personnel went to the location at the request of rangers, but when no victims were spotted on the surface of the water Wednesday, crews cleared the scene.
Nearly a dozen personnel, including a sheriff’s dive team, deployed to the lake Thursday to scour the reservoir, which is roughly three miles long and two miles wide. It’s about 85 feet deep at its midpoint.
At about 2:30 p.m., the body of one of the men was pulled from the water, authorities told reporters at the scene. The second body was recovered later Thursday afternoon.
The men’s names have not been released by authorities. Family members, however, identified them to reporters as Bob Mauro, 59, of Hawthorne, and Patrick Howard, 53, or Gardena.
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