A Lawrenceville man drowned on Lake Lanier Tuesday while attempting to retrieve a beach ball in about 32 feet of water, officials said.

Responders found the victim's body about 7:21 p.m. Tuesday, a little more than an hour after they were called to the scene near the campground at Lake Lanier Islands near Shoal Creek, said Hall County Fire Chief David Kimbrell.

Hall County Coroner Marion Merck identified the man as Gideon Massey Burt, 49.

The man was swimming to retrieve a beach ball when he started calling for help and then disappeared, Kimbrell said.

Col. Jeff Strickland, chief deputy for the Hall County Sheriff's Office, said the man was camping with his wife and two children when he went under.

The sheriff's office is investigating.

There have been several drownings in the lake in recent weeks.

Two people drowned last week in Lanier. And a week ago, a 10-year-old was killed when he was hit by a personal watercraft in the Chestatee River arm of Lake Lanier.

On July 2, another man drowned in the lake, and the weekend before, a man drowned near Buford Dam.

In 2010, the Department of Natural Resources recorded five drownings in the Gainesville area, in 2009 there were four, 2008, 10, and 2007, 13.