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SPANISH FORK — A 20-year-old fisherman was found Sunday morning after drowning in the Spanish Oaks Reservoir, authorities said.
According to Matthew R. Johnson of the Spanish Fork City Police Department, police were dispatched Saturday at 10:26 p.m. when a report came in from the family of an overdue fisherman — Jose Eduardo Castellanos of Provo — who had been out since 9 a.m. and had not returned. The family found his vehicle in the parking lot, but could not find Castellanos.
The initial search returned Castellanos’ hat and vest on the southeast bank of the reservoir. The Utah County Search and Rescue Team was contacted but the search wasn’t dispatched until daylight hours.
A search team of 30 members assembled at 7 a.m. Sunday to resume looking for Castellanos, Johnson said. His body was found at 10:30 a.m. in five feet of water near the northeast end of the reservoir. Seventeen feet of water had been drained from the reservoir to aid in the search.
Castellanos was found fully clothed. It did not appear to responding agencies as though he had intentionally entered the water, authorities said.
The reservoir has a surface area of five acres and the water is currently 55 degrees Fahrenheit, Johnson said.
This is the second drowning that has occurred at the reservoir since it was constructed in 2002. The first occurred in the summer of 2011 when a 52-year-old man drowned there.
