Man pulled from Winnisquam last Thursday ’improving’

LACONIA — A Laconia man who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition last Thursday after he was pulled unresponsive from Lake Winnisquam is slowly improving, an official said Tuesday.

“He is improving,” Marine Patrol Capt. Timothy Dunleavy said, based on information he received from a member of the man’s family.

Dunleavy identified the man as Douglas Gault, 61, of Laconia.

He remains hospitalized at Concord Hospital-Laconia, where he was rushed after family members and bystanders pulled him out of the water and performed CPR on him.

Dunleavy said that the man was lying on an inflatable raft not far from the main beach at Ahern when he slipped off, fell into the water, and began to struggle.

A Maine Patrol boat was sent to the scene while a Gilford Fire Rescue ambulance, with assistance from a Belmont Fire Department paramedic, rushed Gault to the hospital.

The incident was reported to authorities at 5 p.m. Thursday just 10 minutes after the Laconia Fire Department was sent to the Margate Resort after receiving a report that a man had not surfaced after falling off his boat a short ways offshore. The body of the man was recovered the following day.