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Man drowns while swimming in a Central Coast lake

Miguel Alacantara
/
Unsplash

The 20-year-old was from Santa Maria.

A Santa Maria man drowned Tuesday while swimming in a Central Coast lake.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's deputies received a call about a man in distress at Lopez Lake. Witnesses say 20-year-old Nathan Martinez was swimming with friends when he disappeared underwater.

They flagged down a nearby boat. The occupants spotted the man, pulled him from the water, and performed CPR. Martinez died later at a hospital.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.