Man's body found in S.F.'s Lake Merced SAN FRANCISCO

A body is discovered by a kayaker and pulled from the weeds by Fire Rescue in Lake Merced on Sunday, March 15, 2009. A body is discovered by a kayaker and pulled from the weeds by Fire Rescue in Lake Merced on Sunday, March 15, 2009. Photo: Scot Tucker, The Chronicle Photo: Scot Tucker, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Man's body found in S.F.'s Lake Merced 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A man's body was discovered in the reeds on the far east side of San Francisco's Lake Merced on Sunday afternoon.

The body, spotted by a kayaker, was towed across the lake to a dock, then pulled out of the water by firefighters.

The age and race of the person and the cause of death were unknown Sunday evening. The city medical examiner is expected to do an autopsy on the body today.

Police were not ruling out foul play.

"The body was quite bloated, but with the weather conditions, it is hard to know how long it has been here," said San Francisco Police Capt. Richard Corriea. "There's some story here, we just don't know what it is."

Corriea said the kayaker saw the body about 4 p.m. Sunday and called police. The Fire Department handles water rescues and also was alerted.

Two men who were teaching dragon boating to high school students offered their help in pulling the body from the water.

Although the Fire Department has rescue watercraft, none is stored at Lake Merced, according to department Battalion Chief Lorrie Kalos. But dragon boating teachers Colin Morneau and Nikhil Naidu were nearby with a boatful of high school students and pitched in.

After Morneau and Naidu dropped off their students, several firefighters piled into the dragon boat and rowed across the lake to the body.

"We were happy to help out; someone had to do it," Morneau said.

Once the body was located, firefighters tied a flotation device around the waist and clipped the device to the back of the dragon boat. The body was towed all the way to the boat house on the far west side of the lake and removed from the water.

Kalos commended Morneau and Naidu for their help and said she would recommend them for Fire Department award certificates of merit. They were also invited to Fire Station 19 for dinner.

"Their help made this recovery a lot easier," said Kalos. "We might have done it from the land side, but that would not have been as easy to do."