The deaths of two Massachusetts men who drowned after their kayak capsized in a Vermont lake on Tuesday have been ruled accidental by authorities.

According to the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, autopsies of Aidan Connolly, 27, and Nicholas Samuels, 29, have preliminary determined they died of drowning and cold water immersion and that their death was accidental.

Connolly, a Boston resident, and Samuels, a Weston resident, were identified Tuesday evening as the two men who drowned at Seymour Lake in Morgan, Vermont, earlier in the day, police said. State of Vermont.

A witness first reported seeing the two men on the lake in a kayak which then overturned around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday. They tried to swim to shore but went underwater and did not surface, the witness told police.

The weather at the time they drowned was cold, with increasing rain and high winds. The lake became rough and there were significant waves, ice and slush. An investigation found that Connolly and Samuels set out in the single kayak from a protected cove, where the harsh conditions on the open lake weren’t as evident and worsened while they were on the water, said officials.

First responders in the area were unable to locate the two men. Members of the Vermont State Police, including its scuba diving team and airboats, responded to the scene to assist in the search. The bodies of Connolly and Samuels were discovered about 100 yards from shore.

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