CAPE VINCENT, New York (WWNY) – State police have identified the man who was found dead in Lake Ontario near a burning boat.
Troopers say he was 82-year-old Robert Pitcher of Three Mile Bay and that he owned the boat that was engulfed in flames.
It happened shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday on the water near Pond’s Marina in the town of Cape Vincent.
A witness said she heard an explosion and saw flames coming from a boat. Barbara Pond called 911.
“I was terrified because all I could see was flames and there was nothing I could do,” said Pond, whose husband is co-owner of the marina. “I walked over around the corner and saw there was a flame on the boat and all of a sudden it got larger and I yelled for my husband. He was cleaning fish and he came over and got our boat, raced out there, and there was nothing he could do. By that time an explosion from the gas tank,” she said.
Cape Vincent Fire and Ambulance were called to the scene.
According to police, firefighters arrived to find a 1979 Regal Marine boat engulfed in fire. Pitcher’s body was found in the water not far from the 20-foot vessel.
The cause of the fire and Pitcher’s death are still under investigation.
Pitcher was well-known in the lakefront community.
“It is devastating because he’s fished out of here for years and years and years and he’s docked here and he’s bought bait here, and he fishes these waters all the time, a lot,” said Pond.
Chaumont and Clayton fire departments also responded to the scene.
A viewer sent us video of the boat fire via Send It To 7.
We’ll update this story when we get more information.
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