UPDATE: Search Still On For Man Who Drowned At Lake Elsinore

MAN IDENTIFIED.

5/30 UPDATE: After searching all day Monday for the body of a Rancho Cucamonga man who drowned at Lake Elsinore, authorities say they are not ready to give up.

As of 8:45 p.m. Monday night, Riverside County Sheriff's Cpl. Courtney Donowho reported, "We are still focused on finding him."

She said there has been "no discussion" about calling off the search, and added that recovery efforts will resume early Tuesday morning. 

The 50-year-old Asian man, whose identity has not been released, was fishing on the north end of the lake in a small water craft Sunday afternoon with his wife and two adult sons. The boat began taking on water and capsized sometime around 1:45 p.m., according to Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Morales.

A good Samaritan who was boating on the lake at the time saw that the family was in distress and was able to rescue the woman and her sons, but the father disappeared in the water.

Conditions on the lake Sunday were windy and choppy.

After several hours of searching, the sheriff's department announced late Sunday afternoon that efforts to find the man had shifted from rescue to recovery mode.

Divers and sonar have been used in the recovery efforts.

Deputy Morales, who has been part of the recovery efforts, said Lake Elsinore is considered a "black lake."

"It has zero visibility (underwater)," he said.

5/30 UPDATE: Recovery crews Monday were using sonar in an attempt to find the body of a man whose boat capsized on Lake Elsinore and who has been ruled, drowned, according to a sheriff's deputy.

To assist in their efforts -- begun at 6 a.m. -- the man who plucked the victim's wife and two adult sons out of the water was headed to the lake to point out the place where the boat upended, according to sheriff's Deputy Joshua Morales.

According to sheriff's officials, the man went under as his wife and two adult sons tried to swim to safety and were pulled out of the water by a passing boater.

The family, from Rancho Cucamonga, tried to steer the boat to shore when swells dumped water on it and it began to sink.

The boat capsized and the man went under and drowned, said Sgt. Raymond Nava.

5/29 UPDATE: The search for the body of a 50-year-old man, who fell into Lake Elsinore after his boat capsized, has been called off for the night.

According to Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Morales, the search and recovery efforts will resume at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

The man was fishing on the boat with his wife and two adult sons, the deputy said today. The three surviving family members were rescued by a passing boat and did not require hospitalization, the deputy said.

The family is from Rancho Cucamonga, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

5/29 ORIGINAL POST: A boat overturned on the north end of Lake Elsinore today and divers were sent out to find one of the passengers -- a 50-year-old man who was presumed dead, sheriff's officials said.

By 4:15 p.m., however, the effort had turned to a search and recovery, with divers searching for a body.

The coroner's truck had also arrived on the scene and by 4:45 p.m. authorities had begun using sonar to find the body.

The first call came into the sheriff's station about 1:45 p.m., according to Riverside County Sheriff's Cpl. Courtney Donowho.

Three others on the boat were safe and unharmed, the corporal said, but divers were searching the lake for the missing man and a helicopter crew circled overhead for signs of someone in the water.

The other three boat passengers -- a mother and two adult children -- were not immediately taken to hospitals and were awaiting word on the father.

The family of four was fishing in the reeds in the area of the lake known as RS1 and the small craft began taking on water, according to Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Morales, who was at the scene.

The family tried to maneuver toward shore but the boat overturned near a small sand bar, according to the deputy.

Conditions on the lake were windy; whitecaps were visible across the water.

"Obviously it's very windy out there and that's not very conducive to boating," Deputy Morales said, noting that Lake Elsinore is considered a "black lake."

"That means it has zero visibility (underwater)," he said.

The deputy said recovery efforts will be called off if a body is not found by nightfall; efforts will resume again in the morning.

Lake Elsinore resident Elizabeth Ascencio said she was preparing her lunch inside her trailer at Lake Park Resort & Motel, which overlooks the lake. She said she looked out her window periodically at the lake and saw the boat, but then lost sight of it.

"One minute it was there, the next it wasn't there," Ascencio said.

Onlookers told Patch that the man's life jacket had possibly slipped off him.

In addition to sheriff's deputies, Cal Fire, CDF, American Medical Response ambulance service, and a volunteer search and rescue group called Lake Elsinore Marine Search & Rescue were at the scene.

Trauma Intervention Program volunteers, who work with families and victims at crime and accident scenes, were also at the lake.