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Oklahoma City man found dead in Mirror Lake

Ambulance personnel watch from the Lake Placid village beach as a member of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department’s dive team wades into Mirror Lake Thursday night to search for Eduardo Agundis. (Enterprise photo — Scott Patnode)

LAKE PLACID — A man was found dead in Mirror Lake Thursday night.

Eduardo Agundis, 32, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, had apparently been swimming in the lake, people at the scene told the Lake Placid Police Department.

Village police first arrived at the municipal beach off of Parkside Drive at 9:27 p.m. Thursday after they received a call about a “commotion” at the lake. New York State Police also responded to assist. Shortly after the officers arrived, they alerted the Lake Placid Fire Department to a possible drowning. Twenty-six firefighters arrived on scene with two trucks.

The police department investigated, and at this time the death appears to be accidental, according to Assistant Chief Chuck Dobson.

The fire department said the man drowned. Essex County Coroner Jay Heald, who responded to the scene and pronounced Agundis dead, could not immediately be reached on Friday to confirm the cause of death.

Lake Placid resident Scott Patnode, who works in the Enterprise accounting office, was close by and heard the fire department’s sirens as they approached the beach. When he saw the fire trucks turn toward the beach, he knew something was off. It was a “pretty quiet night” on the lake, he said, and it didn’t seem like anybody was out there. Then more trucks and an ambulance arrived. Patnode said he heard a man shouting, “Oh no!” multiple times.

Within half an hour, the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department had arrived with its dive team and boat. The Saranac Lake fire department also sent two fire trucks to the scene.

Patnode said he saw people in dry suits searching in the water off a dock, and then farther away, where the water flows toward an outlet. By 10:30 p.m. the Saranac Lake fire department’s boat was in the water.

It took just a few minutes of searching with the boat before first responders found the person in the lake, according to Patnode.

Dobson said Agundis’ body was recovered from the lake at 10:32 p.m. The Saranac Lake fire department’s dive team recovered the body about 40 to 50 feet from the dock, 12 to 15 feet down in the water.

The Lake Placid fire department was back in service shortly after midnight. The Saranac Lake fire department was back in service at 1:30 a.m.

Though Lake Placid is experiencing summer weather this week, Mirror Lake’s water temperature may still be low. Village police checked the lake’s temperature but did not have that available Friday. Generally in spring, it takes time for water temperatures to catch up with air temperatures.

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