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PALM HARBOR - A 38-year-old Palm Harbor man drowned in the Gulf of Mexico off Crystal Beach after a canoe capsized during a storm Saturday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
The victim's name was not released late Saturday.
The man went for a canoe ride with three friends about 5:30 p.m., detectives said. A storm off Crystal Beach, west of Palm Harbor, capsized the canoe, tossing all four into the water.
Not having any life jackets, a man and a woman clung to a small cooler, while two other men started swimming to shore. Only one of them made it, detectives said.
A Crystal Beach resident rescued the man and woman holding onto the cooler and recovered their friend's body from the water, detectives said. He was pronounced dead at 7:43 p.m.