Man drowns in Thompsons Lake

The Enterprise — Noah Zweifel

Thompsons Lake

BERNE — A drowning victim was pulled from Thompsons Lake on Aug. 11 by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police, Sheriff Craig Apple wrote on social media last week. 

Apple said the victim, 58-year-old Mahbeer Magasa, of Guyana, was in around 40 feet of water and that attempts to resuscitate him failed. An autopsy confirmed that he died of asphyxiation, Apple said.

It’s the second drowning death at Thompsons Lake in just over two months. A 47-year-old woman died there on June 4 when a boat she was in tipped over.

Thompsons Lake campground is part of the John Boyd Thacher State Park. A State Police spokeswoman referred Enterprise questions to the county sheriff’s office, which did not respond.

More Hilltowns News

  • Berne-Knox-Westerlo is looking at a roughly $700,000 shortfall in its 2025-26 budget despite a 3.3 percent property-tax hike, due to widespread cost increases and decreases in state aid. The gap will have to be closed through “creative” reductions, Superintendent Bonnie Kane said. 

  • This year, Hilltown residents will vote in a majority-number of town board members in each town, including Berne, where all five seats will be open due to the number of vacancies that need to be filled. 

  • The town of Rensselaerville appointed Jason Wood as deputy highway superintendent after the previous one, Warren Bashwinger, was let go for undisclosed reasons. 

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