Fisherman Drowns Sunday When Boat Tips in Twin Lakes

SALISBURY — Zdzislaw Skorski, a 52-year-old New Britain man, drowned Sunday morning, Jan. 7, on Twin Lakes when his boat capsized while he was fishing.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the victim, his 54-year-old brother Antoni Skorski, and the brother’s 22-year-old son, Christopher Skorski, both also of New Britain, were in the boat when it went over on Lake Washinee, the smaller of the two lakes, around 10:15 a.m.

"They were about 30 feet offshore when the boat went over," said Dennis Schain, the DEP’s communications director.

All three were taken to Sharon Hospital by the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service. The two survivors were treated for hypothermia, shock and other non-physical injuries and released. Zdzislaw Skorski was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The Lakeville Hose Company, the state police and the DEP were notified of a 911 call at about 10:20 a.m. from a resident of Between The Lakes Road.

The caller had heard shouts of distress coming from the capsized boat at a point near the bridge over the aqueduct between the two lakes.

The hose company was the first on the scene at 10:37 a.m., with about two dozen firefighters, followed by almost that many emergency medical technicians. Firefighters had to travel 5.2 miles from the firehouse in Lakeville to this northernmost region of Salisbury.

Salisbury has five villages: Lakeville, Salisbury, Amesville (on the Housatonic River near Falls Village), Lime Rock and Taconic,which is near the Massachusetts border. The Twin Lakes are in Taconic. The Lakeville Hose company serves all five villages.

Lakeville Hose Company Fire Chief Rick Roger said he and his crew could hear two men shouting for help when they arrived. They then learned that there was a third fisherman under the fishing boat

The firefighters, led by Capt. Jason Wilson, deployed a 12-foot inflatable rescue boat and went to the aid of the men.

One of them was holding onto the trio’s overturned 12-foot fiberglass rowboat.

Zdzislaw Skorski, whom Wilson pulled by the arm from beneath the surface, was unresponsive even as hose company rescuers attempted to revive him.

The third man was rescued by volunteers in a canoe, Roger said.

Roger added that even though the three fishermen were only about 30 feet from the shore, the nearest viable staging point for a rescue was the bridge, which was closer to 200 feet from the men. The bridge is probably the point from which they had launched their fishing boat.

Roger estimated the men had been in the water about 25 minutes and said he saw no signs that they had been wearing life preservers.

In order to allow emergency vehicles unimpeded access to the scene, firefighters closed a portion of Between The Lakes Road, Roger said.

The DEP spokesman said the three men had been fishing for about three hours. The cause of the accident is unknown. The DEP’s EnCon Police Unit is investigating the accident. Schain said EnCon officers reported that although weekend temperatures were warm, the water temperature in the lake was in the low 30s. It was breezy but not windy.