Police identify man who drowned in Lake Champlain – VTDigger

Vermont State Police have identified the man who drowned Tuesday in Lake Champlain as Darren Kemp, who was originally from South Africa. 

Kemp, 30, lived and worked at Basin Harbor Club, which spans parts of Vergennes and Ferrisburgh. On Tuesday, Kemp swam in Lake Champlain near the club, but did not emerge from under the waters, according to a police press release. 

State Police received word of the drowning incident around 9:25 p.m. and reported to the scene along with the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad and the Addison, Charlotte, Ferrisburgh and Vergennes fire departments. First responders carried Kemp from the waters to shore, but efforts to revive him were not successful. 

Kemp was pronounced dead at approximately 10:10 p.m, and the Chief’s Examiner’s Office in Burlington will perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. There is no evidence the drowning death is suspicious, according to police.

This is the second reported drowning in the state in the span of a week, after an 18-year old Burlington High School student Eljak Menjwak died in the New Haven River in Bristol on Saturday. 

Like other states in the East, Vermont has been hit with extreme heat, humidity and thunderstorms this past week, leading many people to seek relief in or near bodies of water.

The state’s Department of Health has identified more than 400 cooling centers where Vermonters can seek shelter from heat waves this summer.