In Ventspils, the search for a man who went on an evening fishing trip to Lake Bushnieku ended tragically. After a night of searching, rescuers discovered an overturned boat in the morning, and nearby was the body of the missing fisherman.
A tragedy occurred on the water in Ventspils — 70-year-old Alexander Komutnikov, who went fishing in the evening, was found dead near an overturned boat on Lake Bushnieku.
As reported by the Degpunktā program (TV3), the man went fishing around six o'clock in the evening. After 21:30, he stopped communicating, and the State Police declared him missing.
The search continued throughout the night, but yielded no results. Only in the morning did a local resident notice the overturned boat in the lake and reported it to the emergency services.
Rescuers and police immediately headed to the scene, using the boat base on the lake as a point of access to the water.
An employee of the base, Ivars, stated that around seven o'clock in the morning, the police showed him a photograph of the missing man, and he recognized him. Later, rescuers found Alexander without signs of life near the overturned boat.
According to Ivars, the deceased did not rent a boat from the base and most likely went fishing on his own boat. The man admitted that in his 20 years of working by the lake, such a tragedy had occurred for the first time.
"I try not to let people with bottles go out," Ivars said, adding that he does not rule out the possibility that the fisherman may have been under the influence of alcohol.
Officially, the police are still investigating the circumstances of the incident. It is preliminarily believed that during fishing, the boat capsized, after which the man drowned.
The tragedy in Ventspils occurred against the backdrop of several dangerous incidents on the water in Latvia in one day.
In the vicinity of Cesis, a man nearly drowned while trying to pull an anchor from the water, and near Liepaja, rescuers assisted a kitesurfer who was about 500 meters from the shore and could not return on his own. In both cases, people were rescued.
Rescuers remind that with the onset of the warm season, the number of accidents on the water sharply increases.
The commander of the Ventspils branch of the State Fire and Rescue Service, Janis Senkans, again urged residents to always wear life jackets and not to go out on the water alone.
"It is never safe to swim alone, including in a boat," he emphasized.
Rescuers also remind not to swim at night and not to jump into the water from heights.
At the boat base on Lake Bushnieku, as Ivars mentioned, life jackets for clients are a mandatory requirement regardless of the fisherman's experience.
The tragedy on Lake Bushnieku once again reminded how dangerous leisure on the water can be even for experienced fishermen — especially alone and without following safety measures.
