Nevada City, CA – A four-day long search for a man who fell from a jet ski on Monday, June 24, at Rollins Reservoir (aka Rollins Lake) has a come to a sad close. The 49-year-old man, identified as Hashim Raza Rizvi, of Davis, California, was located on the evening of June 27 using remote operated symbiotic robots and was recovered underwater from a depth of approximately 170 feet.
“The depth at which he was located was far too dangerous for any of our respective dive teams to safely retrieve him,” explained Incident Commander and Lt. Russell Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. “We and our partners are fortunate to have access to a variety of advanced technology, such as remote operated symbiotic robots, that made the recovery possible in a safe and efficient manner.”
Technology collectively utilized to aid the search included sonar, remote operated symbiotic robots, and lidar scanning technology.
This incident began on Monday, June 24, when 911 calls went into both Nevada County and Placer County’s respective regional dispatch centers, beginning at 11:39 a.m., as Rollins Reservoir falls between both county’s jurisdictions. Initial reports indicated the man, later identified as Rizvi, along with two female riders, were jet skiing on a single jet ski operated by Rizvi. When maneuvering the jet ski on a turn, all three riders were thrown from the jet ski. Rizvi never resurfaced. The two female riders resurfaced but were in distress as they reportedly could not swim and were not wearing personal floatation devices. They were rescued by a sole paddleboarder. Early reports also indicated Rizvi was not wearing a personal floatation device and could not swim, but his family later confirmed he was a good swimmer.
“We are saddened by this loss of life but are grateful our teams were able to recover him and bring closure to his family,” added Lt. Greene.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office was the lead agency for the search operation but worked in close partnership with several allied agencies on the recovery efforts. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office would like to acknowledge and thank the following partners who graciously responded with their own teams, technology and time: Placer County Sheriff’s Office dive team, Yuba County Sheriff’s Office marine unit, Butte County Sheriff’s Office marine unit, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office dive team, California Highway Patrol Air Operations, Nevada County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteers and cadaver dogs, PG&E, California Rescue Dog Association, and WOOF Search Dog Teams.