The coroner’s office has identified a 42-year-old Round Lake man who died of drowning while trying to retrieve his canoe that floated away from him on Highland Lake on Saturday.
A preliminary autopsy showed Zeeshan Tabassum, 42, died of drowning, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Police originally said the man resided in Chicago but the coroner’s office said on Wednesday that he resided in Round Lake.
The Grayslake Fire Protection District and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8:15 a.m. Saturday to the 34400 block of North Circle Drive in unincorporated Round Lake.
Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said authorities received a call of a man who went into Highland Lake but did not resurface.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and learned the man, later identified as Tabassum, was going to take a canoe to the middle of the lake.
“Before he could get inside the canoe, the canoe started floating away from a pier he was launching from,” Covelli said.
Tabassum jumped into the water to try and retrieve the canoe, but he did not resurface after going in. The man was not wearing a life vest.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was activated to the second alarm level, bringing dozens of fire departments from across Lake and McHenry counties to the scene.
Divers located Tabassum unconscious in the water and brought him to shore.
An ambulance transported him to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville in critical condition.
Tabassum was later pronounced dead in the emergency room.
Covelli said foul play is not suspected but sheriff’s detectives and the Lake County Coroner’s Office are investigating the incident.