LAKE MARY, Fla. — On Saturday night, Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said the search for a man who was thrown from his jet ski had switched to a recovery effort.
Residents say the lake is usually very quiet.
"Just local people use the lake. Now and then, kids come out and use the lake to jet ski," neighbor, Frank Petracca said.
Search crews spent hours looking for 20-year-old Brandon Marlette, of Longwood, Saturday evening after he fell off his jet ski and never surfaced.
"Witnesses said he was doing circles. He was ejected off his jet ski, and he sank to the bottom," said Lenny Salbert from the Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Officials also said that Marlette wasn't wearing a life vest, and he didn't have an emergency kill switch attached to his wrist. They said the part of the lake where the accident happened is 15 to 20 feet deep, and vegetation at the bottom is three feet high.
The jet ski Marlette was driving wound up on shore.
Officials said dive teams would return to the lake at sunrise on Sunday to continue the search.