Thursday, June 12, 2014


Press Release

6/12/2014

3:00 PM

Drowning at Bullfrog Marina 


At approximately 8:00 a.m. on Thursday June 12, 2014, the body of a 22 year old male was recovered near the boat docks in Bullfrog Marina.

 

Tuesday, June 10th, 22 year old Alec McQueen from Salt Lake City, was boating with two female friends in the Bullfrog area.  All three are employees of ARAMARK, and were living and working in Bullfrog for the summer.  They were returning to the dock area about 7p.m.  As the boat was pulling into an open slip to park, the driver turned off the boat and Alec who was sitting on the back of the boat jumped in.  The driver could see Alec in the water a few feet behind the boat.  She looked away and when she turned back a couple of seconds later she could not see Alec. 

 

When they could not find Alec, they called 911 and a National Park Service, (NPS), ranger arrived shortly after.  Other personnel arrived from NPS and Utah State Parks.  Notification was made to the NPS dive team and the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.  Because it was so late in the day, it was decided that a search would be initiated the next morning. 

 

Wednesday morning the NPS Lake Powell dive team was transported by plane from Wahweep Marina to Bullfrog to assess the situation. When their dive boat arrived in early afternoon, they attempted to use their underwater robot and sonar to locate Alec.  The sonar malfunctioned and after several tries, it was determined that it could not be fixed on site.  Three divers from the NPS team were put in the water and attempted to search the initial target area.  They searched at a depth of about 90 feet in zero visibility conditions.  They made several passes over the area working completely by feel before having to return to the surface.  At the same time, a request was made to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office for the use of their dive team, robot, and sonar.  They arrived in Bullfrog at about 4 a.m. Thursday morning.

 

After a 6 a.m. briefing on Thursday, the Summit County team launched their boat and were able to locate Alec’s body about 7:30 in the primary search area at a depth of 113 feet.  The National Park Service’s divers were then able to retrieve the body and bring it to the surface.  The Kane County Sheriff was on scene and took position of the body and transported it to the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office in Salt Lake City. 

 

Alec’s Parents and siblings were on scene at the time of the recovery and were able to see Alec before he was transported by Sheriff Smith.

 

Thanks to all those involved in this difficult incident.  Numerous agencies responded to the scene to include National Park Service, Utah State Parks, Kane County Sheriff’s Office, and Summit County Search and Rescue.  The case remains under joint investigation.