Tragedy struck Salt Fork State Park on Sunday when two men, enjoying a day out on the water in kayaks, met their untimely deaths after one of the vessels capsized. The incident occurred near the beach around 2:47 p.m., as reported by ABC6. In an attempt to help save his comrade, the occupant of the second kayak jumped to aid, resulting in both men drowning.
Authorities worked diligently to recover the bodies, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources officers managing to recover one body soon after and the other several hours later. In a statement obtained by WTOV9, ODNR officials detailed the sequence of events but abstained from releasing the names of the deceased at the time.
However, the identities of the deceased were later confirmed. The Guernsey County Coroner's Office identified the victims as 53-year-old Thomas Fowler of Zanesville and 69-year-old Robert Hurst of Chillicothe. This information came to light in a news release, which The Zanesville Times Recorder revealed.
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