Lex man drowns in canal
Gothenburg fire personnel recover body.
A Lexington fisherman drowned at the Double Check Saturday morning after he got his line snagged and fell into the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District canal south of Brady.
The body of Edgar R. Matia-Martin, 21, of Lexington was recovered three and a half hours after he was reported to have fallen in the water.
Mark Ballmer, Gothenburg fire chief, said the Gothenburg Volunteer Fire Department received a dispatch call at 9:57 a.m. Saturday.
Matia-Martin had been fishing with his family at the popular fishing site where he had stepped over the guard rail and onto the rocks.
“We were told he got his line snagged and when he pulled on it, part of his pole broke off,” Ballmer said. “When he tried to reach in and get it, he fell in the water.”
Unable to swim, the rushing water carried Matia-Martin roughly 100 yards down the canal before he went under and never surfaced again.
“There is a large amount of water rushing through a small space there,” Ballmer said. “With the under-toes and the debris in the canal, even
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