Auburn rescue crews pull man’s body out of Electric Pond following boating accident

AUBURN, Mass. — Rescue crews in Auburn have recovered the body of a man who went missing in the waters of Electric Pond on Thursday evening.

On Thursday, officials said they had been searching the area of 288 Bryn Mawr Ave at around 6 p.m. for a man in the water following a boating accident, but the search had to be called off after nightfall due to dangerous conditions.

The Worcester County DA’s office said the victim had taken his motor boat out on the reservoir around 5 p.m., but calls only started to come in an hour later, where people were reporting an empty boat just circling in the water. The empty boat eventually ran ashore.

Not even 24 hours later, on Friday morning after resuming the search, Auburn firefighters announced they had located the victim in 18 feet of water and removed his body from the water.

“At some point the rescue operation moved into recovery," said Auburn Fire Chief Stephen Coleman.

Coleman said a trained search dog named Riggs was responsible for locating the man’s body.

“The extremely weedy conditions of this pond, if without the assistance of the K9 sort of honing the divers in on a specific area, a search like this could go on for days, and that certainly doesn’t provide any closure to not only the family but the responders," said Coleman. "The ability to have this K9 that’s able to detect what it can and put us in a general vicinity, it’s worth its weight in gold.”

Officials have identified the victim as Doug Flink Sr. It is still unclear how he ended up in the water.

Neighbors told Boston 25 Flink Sr. was an incredibly kind man who was constantly helping other boaters with their vessels.

“Everything I’ve ever heard is positive and that he’s very nice," said Jean Keller, a neighbor. "It’s very hard, it’s very hard to see. And you know water is dangerous but, you know, you just don’t expect it.”

Keller says she’s seen several drownings in the time she’s lived on Electric Pond, also known as Dark Brook Reservoir. According to Keller, while the water seems calm, it has some strong currents,

“We’ve been here 42 years and this is the at least the third time [someone has drowned]," said Keller. “In fact, my sister-in-law’s brother died in that same pond about 44 years ago. So sorry for them, for their loss. Very sorry for their loss.”

The District 7 Regional Dive Team, MA State Police Divers and Environmental Police, along with Auburn Police and Fire assisted in the search and recovery.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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