Daniel Sweeney 10-05-09
Man presumed drowned after canoe tips in Southeast
Anchorage Daily News, Published: October 6th, 2009
Alaska State Troopers were searching today for a man who disappeared into a lake
after a canoe overturned near Port Armstrong in Southeast Alaska.
Troopers said they got a report about 4:10 p.m. Monday that 24-year-old Daniel Sweeney
of Ohio fell into Jetty Lake and never made it to shore.
Sweeney had been fishing in a canoe with another worker near the Port Armstrong
Hatchery, about 3 1/2 miles north of Port Alexander on the south end of Baranof
Island, troopers said.
According to troopers, a gust of wind tipped the canoe and the men had to swim back
to shore. One man made it, but Sweeney was still missing.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent a helicopter to search the area and five workers from
the hatchery also searched the shoreline of the lake, troopers said.
There has been no sign of the Sweeney, who is presumed drowned, troopers said.
The search continued today with the help of divers from Sitka, troopers said.
Divers recover body of Southeast canoeist
Anchorage Daily News / adn.com, Published: October 12th, 2009
PORT ARMSTRONG -- The body of a man who fell into a Southeast Alaska lake and was
presumed drowned last weekend has been recovered, Alaska State Troopers said Monday.
Cleveland, Ohio, resident Daniel Sweeney, 24, had been fishing in a canoe with Josh
Besecker, 24, of Washington, on Jetty Lake when a gust of wind reportedly tipped
the boat and sent the men into the water the afternoon of Oct. 5, troopers said.
Besecker swam the roughly 100 yards to the shore of the lake near the Port Armstrong
Hatchery, about 3 1/2 miles north of Port Alexander on the south end of Baranof
Island. Sweeney didn't make it.
The Sitka Dive Team recovered his body Friday afternoon in about 40 feet of water
and about 50 yards from shore. The body was to be sent to the state medical examiner's
office in Anchorage for an autopsy.
Troopers say neither man was wearing a flotation device.