A fisherman drowned this afternoon when he was swept out to sea from a beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore while trying to retrieve an ice chest, a National Park Service spokesman said.
The incident occurred at North Beach, located along the 25000 block of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near the Point Reyes Lighthouse.
Witnesses told authorities that the man was fishing by himself at about 12:10 p.m. when a wave knocked over his ice chest and dragged it into the ocean, NPS spokesman John Dell'Osso said.
The fisherman went in after the ice chest and was quickly overcome by waves, Dell'Osso said.
The National Park Service and Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter Henry-1 later recovered the fisherman's body.
The park service and the Marin County coroner's office are investigating the death and are notifying the man's family, Dell'Osso said.
The Marin County and Inverness fire departments also responded to the incident, Marin County fire Battalion Chief Mike Giannini said.
