On Friday morning, Maine Warden Service divers recovered the body of a man who drowned in Lower Range Pond in Poland.

Todd Bradeen, 51, of Standish fell off of his paddleboard early Thursday afternoon, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife said in a release. He was not attached to the board and was not wearing a life jacket, and went under the surface while attempting to swim back to the board, which was pushed away from him in the wind.

On Thursday, police and wardens scoured the area using boats, drones and scuba divers in an attempt to locate Bradeen. His body was located early Friday morning using a sonar-equipped boat and visually confirmed with an underwater drone before divers recovered it around 8 a.m.

There have been a spate of drowning deaths recently in Southern Maine, including an 18-year-old who drowned in the Androscoggin River last week, a Westbrook woman who died while recovering golf balls from a pond in Scarborough and a Biddeford man who drowned at Martin’s Point in Sabattus on Wednesday night.

The wardens are urging boaters and swimmers to know their own swimming abilities and wear a personal flotation when on the water.

Staff Writer Mark LaFlamme contributed reporting.

Riley covers education for the Press Herald. Before moving to Portland, she spent two years in Kenai, Alaska, reporting on local government, schools and natural resources for the public radio station KDLL…
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