24-year-old man dead after falling off canoe and drowning in Hamilton Co. pond

HAMILTON COUNTY — A 24-year-old man drowned in Colerain Township pond after falling off a canoe Tuesday evening.

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Wilmer Noe Perez-Lopez, of Cincinnati, was working on the property sometime before 6:15 p.m. when he fell into the pond.

A nearby, off-duty Colerain Township firefighter heard Perez-Lopez struggling to aboard the canoe and jumped into the water to attempt to rescue him, WCPO reported. The firefighter was about five feet away from Perez-Lopez before he went underwater, Colerain Township Fire informed in a press release. The firefighter was unable to grab the man before losing sight of him.

Colerain Fire were dispatched to the pond on Stone Mill Road at around 6:15 p.m to aid in the rescue efforts. Responders arrived at the scene within five minutes of the call, a spokesperson for the department stated.

When crews arrived, they determined that the water’s temperature was under 50 degrees, which caused responders to treat the incident as a cold-water rescue. During the cold-water rescue, the first two hours were considered crucial because a person could survive the cold temperatures for two hours before likely dying, whether from hypothermia or drowning, Colerain Fire Battalion Chief Steve Conn said.

However, rescuers were unable to find Perez-Lopez within the two-hour time frame. Crews changed the rescue to a recovery mission as a response.

Search and rescue crews found the body five hours later, at 11:15 p.m.

“While the pond does not look very big, officials said it is about 15 feet deep,” which posed a challenge for the search and rescue crews, WCPO stated. Responders used sonar to find the man underwater.

Colerain Fire did not release what work the man was doing on the property before falling and drowning.

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