A beloved Georgia artist died in a harrowing suspected drowning which has left family and friends searching for answers. 

Fidel 'Omil' Ojway, 28, of Lilburn, was on a boating trip with friends at Lake Allatoona on Sunday when the tragedy unfolded.

The group was enjoying the afternoon when Ojway jumped into the water from the boat and never resurfaced. 

'It was a split second. Everything was okay and it’s, "Where’s Omil?" He just went down in the water, no fight, nothing, he just sunk,' Ojway's friend, Narji Njau, told WSB-TV Channel 2.

Emergency crews responded to the scene with sonar technology equipment, which uses sound waves to map underwater terrain, in an effort to locate Ojway.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources recovered the artist's body in the early hours of Monday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will conduct an autopsy to determine the official cause of Ojway's death. 

Daily Mail reached out to the state bureau and coroner's office for comment. 

The eerie incident left Ojway's friends in shock. Njau said the group had been out on Lake Allatoona together many times before, making the tragedy even harder to comprehend. 

Njau said Ojway knew how to swim, raising even more questions about what happened. 

'I can’t put a pin on what I’m feeling. It just feels like a void,' Njau said.

Ojway was a multi-talented artist who brought joy to everyone he met, Njau said.

He studied animation at Savannah College of Art and Design and was also taking classes at Gwinnett Technical College. 

'He was an artist, he was a brother, a son, a friend. He was a person who always had a smile on his face,' Njau said.

'Always put a smile on other people’s faces. He was joy, the emulation of joy.'

A GoFundMe has been created to help cover Ojway's funeral expenses and had raised nearly $10,000 as of Thursday.

Lake Allatoona, in northwestern Georgia, spans more than 12,000 acres and features about 270 miles of shoreline.

The reservoir is a popular destination for boating, fishing and other recreational activities. 

The artist's death was one of four drownings reported in Georgia over the Fourth of July weekend, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

Law enforcement responded to four drowning deaths, six boating incidents and three injuries between Saturday and Monday.

Officials also arrested 34 people in connection with boating under the influence, none of the deaths were linked to boating crashes.