Man drowns at campground in Scarborough

    A 21-year-old Lewiston man drowned early Tuesday morning at Wassamki Springs Campground on Saco Street in Scarborough.
     Spokesman for the Maine Warden Service Mark Latti said the victim Michael Gould and his friend Dave Burnett were staying at a camp and decided to take a paddleboat on the man made pond at about 5 a.m. Latti said the men had been up all night.
     The two men spotted a kayak on the shore and Gould decided he would get out of the paddleboat and take the kayak back to the other side of the pond. Burnett made his way back to shore in the paddleboat when he heard cries for help from Gould.
     “According to David it happened very quickly, within a minute,” Latti said. He said the kayak was the type where a person sits on top, not the “cock-pit” kind and that there was a life vest on the kayak, however, Gould never put it on. Latti also said Gould didn’t know how to swim.
     “The unfortunate thing is when you’re in the water without a life jacket and unable to swim, you don’t last very long,” Latti said.
     Gould’s body was eventually recovered by a diver from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office 100 to 150 feet off shore.
     Employees at Wassamki Springs declined to comment on Tuesday.