Exactly what I was going to ask. I never go into the woods or on the water without a sheath knife. I suspect some leftist moron taught him that "knives are bad", so he drowned with no "bad" tools on him.
Many years ago I read about a rescue woman who was dropped into the water to rescue a pilot, while I wondered at a woman with little upper strength doing that work, the article said that she lost the pilot because she did not have a knife to cut him out of his harness, or chute lines or something.
How insane is that?
Heck, I’m sitting here at a computer and have a serrated Spyderco Delica clipped in my pocket, as I do most of the time (98%+) I’m not dressed for bed. I can’t imagine not having one at hand. Maybe it happened too fast, and he was taken down to depth very quickly, such that a knife didn’t matter?
In any case, some added buoyancy from a life vest, a knife, and some quick thinking would have likely led to a favorable outcome here.