UC Berkeley student reported missing in Texas lake

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A man who disappeared in a Texas lake Sunday has been identified as UC Berkeley sophomore Song Sok.

Sok, 20, was visiting Lake Travis with co-workers while interning in the Dallas area, according to a Thursday press release from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. Shortly before 6:30 p.m. he and another man jumped from their boat into the water to cool off. Witnesses told authorities that one of the men appeared to be in distress and did not resurface before anyone could reach him.

Rescue swimmers from the fire department and personnel from a local aerial emergency medical service could not locate Sok, the press release said. As of Thursday, search efforts included a remotely operated underwater vehicle, divers and resources from Texas search and rescue. The search covered a roughly 90-feet-deep area but was hampered by lack of visibility and an underwater grove of trees.

As of Saturday morning, the sheriff’s office had no updates beyond the press release.

Sok studied computer science at UC Berkeley and was interning at Ciao Telecom, a technology company, for the summer. His sister launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund his rescue and had raised $3,785 as of Saturday morning.

Christopher Coale, a UC Berkeley student and friend of Sok’s, said Sok was excited to have been recently accepted into the computer science major. He and his friends had planned their schedules so that they could take classes together.

“I didn’t think anything like this would happen to one of my own friends. After realizing it was real, I was absolutely heart broken,” Coale said in an email. “He had so much motivation to finish school and start his career.”

The sheriff’s office reported three deaths in Lake Travis last year. In February, a fisherman died after falling into the lake.

Melissa Wen is a news editor. Contact her at mwen@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @melissalwen.

Read more here: http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/19/uc-berkeley-student-missing-texas-lake/
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