Lake Mead human remains identified in Nevada

Record drought has revealed bodies and sunken boats in the dried-up reservoir

Authorities in Las Vegas say they have identified human remains found in October 2022 in the shrinking Lake Mead. AP

Officials in Nevada said that skeletal remains found in Lake Mead in October were of a drowned man who went missing almost five decades ago, adding to a growing list of bodies found in the drought-stricken reservoir.

Medical examiners ruled that the remains were of Las Vegas resident Donald Smith who drowned in April 1974.

“The identification was based on DNA analysis and reports from the original incident,” the Clark County coroner said in a release viewed by CNN.

“The cause and manner of Mr Smith’s death was determined to be drowning and accidental."

It was the sixth set of remains found in Lake Mead as water levels continue to recede because of historic drought.

Mr Smith's remains were found by a diver in Callville Bay, which led the National Park Service to conduct a wider search for any other human bones.

Lake Meade previously made worldwide headlines when a body was discovered stuffed in a barrel, which may be a victim of murder.

Those remains are still unidentified as Clark County coroners try to identify the other remains found last year.

A sunken Second World War landing craft was also found. The Higgins landing craft was nearly 61 metres underwater.

The devastating drought in nearby California has improved due to record winter cloud band rains and rare snowfall that hit the state for weeks.

A sunken Second World War-era Higgins landing craft that used to be nearly 61 metres underwater is revealed near the Lake Mead Marina in the US state of Nevada as the waterline continues to fall. AFP

The water level at Lake Mead is at its lowest since being filled in 1937. Getty

A climate change-fueled megadrought coupled with increased water demand in the south-western US have dried up portions of the lake. Getty

A vehicle towing a boat drives past a sign welcoming visitors to Lake Mead. The water level is at its lowest since 1937. Getty

People paddleboard at Willow Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US but is shrinking at a terrifying rate and now stands just one quarter full. AFP

A 'bathtub ring', a white band of mineral deposits showing previous water levels, is illuminated at sunset at Lake Mead. AFP

People fish and play in the water on Lake Mead. It is the largest reservoir in the US, a huge man-made body of water formed by the construction of the Hoover Dam in the early 1930s. AFP

A sign indicates the Lake Mead waterline in 2000 in contrast to current low water levels. AFP

The Lake Mead Marina in Nevada. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US but now stands just one quarter full. AFP

A white band of mineral deposits shows Lake Mead's previous water levels. AFP

A formerly sunken boat is stuck nearly upright in a now-dry section of lakebed at drought-stricken Lake Mead. Getty

Boats are docked on a drought-stricken Lake Mead. Fears are increasing that Lake Mead could become a ‘dead pool’, when the water levels become too low to flow downstream from the nearby Hoover Dam. Getty

A mud-encrusted teddy bear sits in a formerly sunken boat. AP

Dead and desiccated fish arranged by a visitor to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area stick out of cracked mud. AP

Craig Miller smokes a cigarette beside his stranded houseboat. He had been living on the boat for more than two weeks after engine trouble and falling lake levels left it above the water level. AP

A coyote walks across dry land that was once under the waters of Lake Mead. AP

Bobby Rhinebolt, right, smokes a cigarette while sitting beside Victor Perez near a formerly sunken boat implanted upright in mud and now above the water line at Lake Mead. AP