SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — After hours of searching, the body of a 29-year-old woman who drowned was recovered from Little Dell Reservoir Tuesday night.
The woman was later identified as Hailey Mason, a Salt Lake City resident.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said witnesses reported seeing a person on a kayak asking for help around 2 p.m. at Little Dell Reservoir. The kayaker was reportedly alone on the water.
"We did receive a call that there were some witnesses who saw someone on a kayak, they could hear somebody yelling for help," Rivera said. "They did see someone in the water for a quick moment, then they called 911."
"Despite their attempts to swim out and assist her, she went under the water and did not resurface," officials stated in a release.
Search and rescue teams from both the Wasatch County and Salt Lake County sheriff's offices responded, as well as Utah State Park rangers and Salt Lake County deputies.
"They realized that there was a kayak that had come to shore, there was a real potential that someone did fall into the water," Rivera said. "So they initiated the search and rescue call out and then just started to look."
Using boats equipped with sonar technology, crews discovered Mason's body as well as her kayak, life vest and other belongings at around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night.
"Once we knew the area where the victim fell into the water we were able to put up a buoy that marked that area once the boats were able to get on there and use their technology on the boat they were able to locate her and able to recover her," Rivera said.
Rivera emphasized that the incident was "very very tragic," and encouraged recreators to take proper safety precautions when enjoying Utah's outdoors.
Mason's death marks the second fatal recreation incident in Salt Lake County this week, with an 80-year-old man falling to his death in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Sunday.
