Missing boater at Livermore lake
(KTVU) – Authorities in Alameda County are searching for a missing man after the boat he was on capsized in Lake Del Valle on Friday evening.
According to the East Bay Regional Park District, the boat capsized around 7:00 p.m. on Friday as park officials were starting to clear out Del Valle Regional Park for its closure.
Lt. Lance Brede said the boat started to take on water and seven people swam toward the shoreline. A short time later they realized one person was missing.
Brede identified the missing man as 31-year-old Raghavendra Indugula of San Francisco. He said Indugula is a Salesforce employee who was with roughly 20 co-workers in the Hetch Hetchy area the park.
“Our investigation has determined that there was a team building workshop going on at Del Valle yesterday,” he said. “At the end of the day they took three trips to ferry people back to the marina area.”
KTVU learned the small aluminum boat was privately owned and should have only been carrying four to six people, but eight people on board when it capsized.
“We believe that because of the weight of the boat, it started to take on water,” Brede said.
No on board was wearing a life vest.
The EBRPD and Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department were first to aid in the search and rescue. A Contra Costa helicopter was also brought in, but found no sign of Indugula late Friday.
On Saturday, the Alameda County dive team used crews and a robot in their search, as friends and co-workers of Indugula waited at the marina.
A spokesperson for Salesforce said they were in contact with authorities. They released the following statement to KTVU:
"Salesforce is aware that there is an investigation into an incident, but we have no additional information to share at this time."
“He’d been in the United States for about seven months,” Brede added. “He is on a [work] visa from India.”
As of late Saturday, authorities classified the mission as a search and rescue/recovery. Crews planned to return to the lake at daybreak on Sunday.