Victim in fatal boat capsizing on Lake Marion identified as Manning man

MANNING – A 59-year-old Manning man, Leslie Earl Pack Jr., has been identified as the victim of a boating incident on Lake Marion on Saturday afternoon.

The Orangeburg County Coroner’s Office listed Pack’s preliminary cause of death as an accidental drowning. The county’s Deputy Coroner Phillip L. Bass said an autopsy would be held Tuesday to confirm the cause of death.

“He will definitely be missed,” said Ryan Way, the executive director of the Clarendon County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, where Pack was employed as the maintenance coordinator. “It was a shock to everyone.”

Way described Pack as a conscientious employee who was always on the job.

“He could fix about anything that he put his mind to,” Way added. “He was really good to be around.”

Pack was one of six individuals who were trapped inside an enclosed structure on a 32-foot pontoon boat when it capsized during a thunderstorm on Lake Marion about 5 p.m. Saturday.

A thunderstorm popped up on the lake unexpectedly, which caused the group to begin seeking shelter at the nearest landing, Lake Marion Resort Landing. The storm’s gusty winds and higher-than-normal waves caused the pontoon boat to capsize, trapping all six members of the group underwater.

“Three ladies and two men made it out of the structure,” said David Lucas, regional public information coordinator with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. “When they realized one of their friends was still underwater, the two men dove back down and brought their friend back to the top. A DNR officer just so happened to be in the area heading to Lake Marion Resort Landing to get out of the stormy weather, came up on the scene and tossed personal flotation devices, PFDs, to the folks in the water. He was able to get all six people into his boat.”

The DNR officer was able to contact EMS and to have them meet his boat at the Lake Marion Resort Landing. Lucas said the man who did not initially surface after the incident was transported to a local hospital, where he died.

DNR also confirmed that two dogs that were onboard the pontoon at the time it capsized died in the incident.

The six friends put the pontoon boat in at Poplar Hill Landing. Lucas said the boat capsized near marker 87 on the Orangeburg side of Lake Marion.

The National Weather Service said wind gusts were reported near 20 mph in the area about the time the boat capsized. Boaters in that same area reported waves at between 3 and 4 feet, Lucas said.

The accident, which appears to be weather related, is under investigation by DNR, Lucas said.