OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The body of a tourist identified as Tou Yang has been recovered from Lake Crescent.
Divers from the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe recovered the body of the 40-year-old man, who drowned late Tuesday morning while cliff diving at the Devil’s Punchbowl in Olympic National Park.
Yang was visiting from Robbinsdale, Minn.
Yang jumped from a 40-foot cliff at the popular swimming area, resurfaced, but then was unable to climb out on the rocky shoreline, according to a press release from Olympic National Park.
He went under the water and never resurfaced, authorities said.
Clallam County Fire District 2 personnel arrived to help, according to Fire Chief Jake Patterson.
Two Olympic National Park patrol boats arrived about 20 minutes later and began the search, Patterson has said.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Public Safety and Natural Resource dive team joined the search and were able to locate and recover Yung’s body four hours later.
Olympic National Park no longer has a dive team, said spokeswoman Lee Snook.
Rory Kallappa, Jamestown S’Klallam Chief of Public Safety and Natural Resources, wrote in an email that a three-person dive team boarded the park’s patrol boat and entered the water at the victim’s last known location at about 3:45 p.m.
They were able to locate the body shortly thereafter in about 70 feet of water.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
