Coconino County Sheriff's Office: Man drowns during fishing trip with family at Willow Springs Lake

FOREST LAKES, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- Officials with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday afternoon that divers over recovered the body of a man who drowned in Willow Springs Lake on Monday.

According to a statement, a body identified as that of 68-year-old Danny Boyd was located by a team with the Gila County Sheriff's Office at around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Pine man's body will be taken to the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office, where an autopsy will be performed. The incident began Monday afternoon, when CCSO received a 911 call of a drowning at Willow Springs Lake. The person who reported the incident was on a fishing trip with his family, and as the family walked around the lake, they heard a person yelling for help, and they could see a man in the water struggling.

The man, according to officials with CCSO, entered the water, swam to Boyd, and was able to get ahold of him and get him part way back to shore. Boyd's body, however, went limp, and the rescuer was not able to pull Boyd to shore. Boyd's body then slipped under the surface of the water.

Boyd, according to CCSO officials, was at the lake fishing with family members, and the family was preparing to leave the area when Boyd wanted to make another trip out on the lake in a small fishing boat before leaving. Boyd's family was out of view of the lake, and there were no witnesses to give investigators an idea of how Boyd ended up in the water, but his boat was found submerged in the area where Boyd was first seen struggling in the water. Game and Fish officials have provided a larger boat and staff to try and recover the submerged boat.

FOX 10 reported on this story from Phoenix.