A 37-year-old Franklin County man apparently drowned early Monday in Smith Mountain Lake, according to the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Barry Phillipe of Moneta was pulled from the water and was declared dead by rescue crews about 2:30 a.m., according to Lt. Karl Martin.

Martin said Phillipe had been fishing with two other people in the Gills Creek area of the lake when their boat became swamped and began to sink about 2 a.m.

The other occupants of the boat were Danielle Bratton, 20, of Hardy and Bobby Smith, 23, of Wirtz. None of the three was wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident.

According to Martin, Bratton does not swim and was being helped to shore by Smith. When they reached land, Bratton and Smith saw that Phillipe was no longer with them and they went to a nearby house and called 911.

Crews responded and found Phillipe floating face down; he could not be revived, Martin said. Phillipe's body has been sent to the medical examiner's office to determine the cause of death.

The boat went down near marker G-10, according to Al Bush with Smith Mountain Lake Marine Volunteer Fire/Rescue.

Martin said the boat sank in about 25 feet of water and has been located by officials using an underwater camera, but it has not been raised and it remains unknown why the boat sank as quickly as it did. He said foul play is not suspected.

The boat, which belonged to Phillipe, had problems earlier this summer, Martin said.

In either late June or early July, he said, it became swamped while tied up during a camping trip on an island in the lake but was not occupied at the time. He did not know if that incident and Monday morning's were connected by the same problem.