SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. — A person has died following an incident on a private pond in Sumter County on Saturday afternoon.
A spokesperson for the Sumter Fire Department said first responders were sent to a pond in the 10500 block of Lynches River Road around 4:40 p.m. for a possible drowning. Sumter Fire officials said members of the Olanta Fire Department were already at the scene when they arrived and, along with residents, were able to get the victim out of the water and onto an island in the pond.
Sumter Fire crews used their boat to ferry the victim to the shore, where emergency medical services personnel worked to save the man's life. Coroner Robbie Baker confirmed that the man, 54-year-old Joseph Causey Jr. of Effingham, South Carolina, died at the scene.
Baker said the victim was in a boat with a juvenile relative when he fell into the water and drowned. An autopsy is planned for Monday at the Medical University of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will investigate the incident.
