Authorities investigate 2 separate drownings

9:57 PM, Jul 12, 2012   |    comments
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Steele County and Kandiyohi County authorities are each investigating drownings that occurred on Wednesday.

Police responded to a report of a missing swimmer just before 6 p.m. on Lake Kohlmier in Owatonna in southern Minnesota.

The Owatonna People's Press reports authorities say the young adult male victim was not a resident of Steele County. The coroner's office was still working on a positive identification Thursday, and the family has not been notified yet.

The coroner's office says the autopsy results were consistent with an accidental drowning, and drugs and alcohol were not a factor.

Meanwhile, Kandiyohi County authorities have identified a 70-year-old man who drowned in Lake Florida north of Willmar as James Toth, of rural Spicer.

Sheriff Dan Hartog says law enforcement was informed around 4:30 p.m. that a person had been found in the water at a home on the lake.

The responding deputy arrived to find people performing CPR on the man, who had been found in the water by relatives. Toth was pronounced dead at Rice Memorial Hospital.

The West Central Tribune reports that the sheriff's office is still investigating, but Hartog says it appears Toth was on his dock, possibly doing something on his boat, which was on a lift, when he fell off of the dock, struck his head and landed in the water.

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