A 15-year-old Forsyth County boy was found unharmed early Wednesday after spending nearly five hours alone on Lake Lanier.

Forsyth County Fire Capt. Jason Shivers said Department of Natural Resources officers found the teen, whose name has not been released, about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday at Aqualand Marina.

The marina is on the other side of Lanier in southern Hall County.

“So he had in fact gone a decent distance on his own in the remaining sunlight,” Shivers said.

The teenager had been out on personal watercrafts with his father Tuesday afternoon.

Shivers explained that the father and son headed back to Mary Alice Park about 7:30 p.m.

“The father got back to shore and realized his son wasn’t with him,” Shivers said. “He said he wasn’t too worried about it because they do this a lot and his son is familiar with the lake.”Shivers said the father grew worried about 8 p.m. when the child still hadn’t shown up.

Adding to the concern of the father and public safety officials was the fact that the teen has a communication disorder.

The fire department and Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office searched on foot along the shoreline.

“We also had fire and law personnel on boats in the water slowly patrolling the water as best we could and still be safe with floodlights and spotlights,” Shivers said.

In addition, the Atlanta Police Department’s helicopter made two trips to the lake to help.