BOTTINEAU, ND (KXNET) — A Bottineau man drowned at Lake Darling September 14.

According to the Renville County Sheriff’s Office, around 9:55 a.m., eyewitnesses saw 73-year-old Douglas Trengen backing a boat into the water to launch. The boat drifted away unattended when it came off the trailer and Trengen went into the water in an effort to retrieve the boat.

Witnesses said when Trengen couldn’t get the boat, he started swimming back to the dock, began to struggle, went under and did not resurface.

Numerous first responders from the region and dive teams from Burlington and Minot assisted in the ten-hour effort to find and recover Trengen.