2 Missing After Boat Is Swamped at Lake

Two Pasadena men were presumed drowned in Castaic Lake after their rented fishing boat was swamped Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said Monday.

Leo Lenore, 50, and William Bunch, 17, were fishing with two other men on upper Castaic Lake about 4:20 p.m. when their boat apparently hit a wave and was flooded with water, Lt. Jeff Springs said.

Two other men in the boat, whose names were not released, were rescued by county lifeguards who arrived by boat less than five minutes after the incident was reported, according to a Sheriff’s Department spokesman. Lenore and Bunch could not be found.

It was uncertain whether any of the men were wearing flotation vests.

Upper Castaic Lake is a popular site for power boating, but it was unclear Monday if the fishing boat was swamped by the wake from another boat or by waves caused by high winds.

Lenore and Bunch disappeared in an area of the lake that is more than 200 feet deep. Divers are unable to search at those depths and no diving search was planned this morning, deputies said.

Springs said investigators might have to wait weeks or months for the bodies to surface.

Helicopters repeatedly flew over the lake and lifeguard boats searched the area Sunday.

The incident has been ruled an accident by investigators.