A man died at Lake Tahoe this past weekend while attempting to aid a rider who had fallen off an inner tube.

The body of Sayen Sengupta, 27, of Boston, was found roughly 30 feet below the surface near the Dollar Point area at around 3:45 p.m. on Sunday by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s underwater remotely operated vehicle.

The sheriff’s office and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a 911 call regarding the incident at about 5 p.m. on Saturday. The agencies located a vessel with 13 passengers, who told officers they had been towing three people on an inner tube when they fell into the water and one became distressed.

---

---

Sengupta, who was operating a rented 24-foot boat, reportedly circled the vessel back, and dove into the water to assist the person in distress. He was last seen swimming toward the fallen inner tube rider when he went under water and did not resurface.

Conditions on Tahoe during the time were rough, according to Placer County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dave Hunt, with high winds, whitecaps and a surface temperature of roughly 68 degrees. The riders on the inner tube were reportedly all wearing personal flotation devices.

---

---

Law enforcement agencies searched the area until roughly 10:30 p.m. by making use of a ping from one of the boater’s cell phones, but were unsuccessful in locating Sengupta. Crews were out the following morning, and recovered the body later that afternoon.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s Marine 6 and new Marine 6 Alpha vessels were used in the search along with assistance from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

“As a reminder, Lake Tahoe with its winds and weather is unpredictable and anyone that is on the water should have a personal flotation device on,” said Hunt.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com.