Mattawa Farmworker’s Body Recovered From Irrigation Canal

Police in Grant County are investigating after the body of a Mattawa area man was found in an irrigation canal on Tuesday evening.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office says the 30-year-old man worked at a farm in the area where deputies responded at around 2 p.m. after his co-workers became concerned that he hadn't returned from performing daily tasks.

Sheriff's spokesperson, Kyle Foreman, says the man's body was discovered inside the canal near Roads M Southwest and 24 Southwest a short time later.

Get our free mobile app

"Our suspicion is that he was doing something job related. We don't know exactly what that might have been, but there's suspicion that he was doing his normal work and somehow ended up in the canal."

Foreman adds there was also evidence at the scene to suggest the man might have entered the canal.

"The three-wheeler ATV that he had ridden to the location was sitting next to the canal idling, as if he'd only expected to be there a short period of time."

Despite the discovery, Foreman says it's still unknown if the man entered the canal on his own or somehow fell in, but foul play is not suspected to have been involved in his death.

The man's body was recovered by crews from Columbia Basin Dive Rescue.

His name is being withheld pending next of kin notifications and his body is currently in the care of the Grant County Coroner's Office, who will conduct an autopsy to determine his exact cause of death later this week.

Foreman says it's highly possible the man might have drowned in the canal, which he adds has been a common concern in Grant County ever since the widespread construction of canals associated with the Columbia Basin Project and Grand Coulee Dam began in the late 1930s and early 1940s.