Divers with the San Marcos Area Recovery Team – SMART recovered the body of 41 year old man from the Blanco River on Monday evening after the man was pulled under the low water crossing bridge at Blanco State Park.  Vega Louis Ramirez from Burlington, North Carolina was paddling an inflatable raft when he was pulled under the roadway in a siphon and did not surface on the down river side of the road.  His wife was also pulled under the roadway but managed to surface down river and was assisted to shore by witnesses.  SMART was very quick to respond having just been canceled by the Comal County Sheriff’s Department at another drowning scene at Jacob’s Creek Park on Canyon Lake.  “We were already on the road heading to Canyon Lake for one drowning at Jacob’s Creek when the team was cancelled because a recovery had been made.  We then got the call from Blanco County and arrived on scene in less than 30 minutes”.  For the first time at a recovery SMART used a new K-9 cadaver dog named “Bok”, a German Shepard trained on human scent.    Divers were in the water for 47 minutes before the recovery was made in 5 feet of water, 212 feet down river from the low water crossing. “Bok alerted five times at the same location on shore and the victim was found 29 feet away from where Bok alerted” Said K-9 handler Captain Kevin Roles.  SMART is currently training two German Shepard K-9’s named “Jack” and “Bok” for recoveries.   SMART put three divers in the water to search supported by eight topside personnel with the South Hays Fire Department.

This was the third event for the dive over the 4^th of July holiday weekend.  On Saturday evening the dive team was put on standby for a vehicle in the water at Medina Lake.  That recovery was handled by the local water rescue team when it was determined the vehicle was unoccupied.   “We almost made it though the holiday weekend without a tragedy, then there were two drownings on Monday evening”.   SMART was assisted by the Blanco Police  and Sheriff’s Department, Texas Parks & Wildlife Game Wardens, Blanco EMS, North Hays FD and Henley FD. 

About SMART-  The San Marcos Area Recovery Team is a sub-division of the South Hays Fire Department and staffed with peace officers, firefighters and paramedics who perform underwater recovery operations throughout the State of Texas to assist law enforcement agencies.  For more information see www.smartdivers.com