A 70-year-old man found dead last week in Lake Erie has been identified as Dave VanZandt, an underwater explorer who disappeared while diving on a recently discovered shipwreck, authorities and his nonprofit said.
VanZandt was the founder, director and chief archaeologist of Cleveland Underwater Explorers, which studies and documents shipwrecks and other sunken artifacts in the Great Lakes. Its team of researchers, archaeologists and divers are particularly focused on Lake Erie, with the organization based in the area around the lake's southern shore, according to its website.
Although VanZandt's employee bio describes him as “semi-retired” from his roles with Cleveland Underwater Explorers, he was still involved in some of its projects and on Saturday had embarked on his first trip of the year, the organization wrote in a Facebook post announcing his death. While “diving on a recently found wreck,” Cleveland Underwater Explorers said VanZandt “did not return to the vessel and suffered a fatal diving accident.” Neither the organization nor the authorities who recovered his body shared details about what exactly happened to him during the dive.
“Our condolences to his wife and family,” the nonprofit's Facebook post read.
The U.S. Coast Guard initially confirmed that a 70-year-old man was missing in Lake Erie around 4 PM ET Saturday afternoon. The agency said crews were searching for a recreational diver in the lake, about 6 miles from Cleveland along the shore. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and an Erie County dive team eventually joined the search, but local divers from nearby Lake County were the ones who eventually found VanZandt.
“At 7:45 local, divers from Lake County recovered a body and confirmed it was the missing man,” USCG Great Lakes said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Saturday evening.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office identified the body as VanZandt, of Lakewood, after it was recovered from the water near the East 9th Street Pier in Cleveland, Fox affiliate WJW reported, citing the medical examiner. CBS News reached out to the medical examiner's office but did not receive an immediate response.
