A man died on Saturday after his canoe capsized on a pond in the Oxford County town of Waterford.
Maine Game Warden received a report at 8:42 a.m. of an unresponsive person in the water at Papoose Pond, where they met a deputy from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Border Patrol arrived soon after, Latti said.
Based on an initial investigation, Latti said, authorities believe four men had been on the pond in three canoes when one of the canoes with two people aboard capsized.
The other boaters were able to get the men in the water to shore, but one, Pedro Quizhpi, 50, of Ecuador, was unresponsive, could not be revived by CPR, and was dead when the deputy arrived, Latti said.
The other man who had been in the capsized canoe, told police the boat had flipped unexpectedly. He said he couldn’t remember what happened after the canoe flipped but that the men in the other canoes had brought Quizhpi to shore.
The men in the other canoes had left the scene before the deputy and game wardens arrived, Latti said.
The Maine Warden Service is investigating the incident as a recreational boating fatality. Latti said two personal flotation devices were in the overturned canoe, but the occupants of the canoe weren’t wearing them.
