Crews recovered the body of a 17-year-old Wednesday evening who went missing while trying to swim across the Chattahoochee River, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The boy, whose name was not released, was with a group of 10 people at Azalea Park in Roswell on Tuesday afternoon, according to Officer Shenise Barner with Cobb County police. Eight made it safely across, she said.
“There was another male that was attempting to swim across, but was unable to make it,” Barner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That swimmer, an 18-year-old, was rescued and taken to a hospital, Barner said. But the 17-year-old was not located.
Cobb and Roswell investigators searched into Tuesday evening before returning to the area. The Cobb police underwater search and recovery team led the search efforts Wednesday, the department said.
During search efforts Tuesday, aerial video showed a rescue boat speeding through a wide, fast-moving section of the river as crews searched for the boy. Though it’s not known what caused the teen to go under the water, Barner said the river’s currents are strong, even for skilled swimmers.
Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, at least three drownings were reported in North Georgia, but none in the Chattahoochee.
On Lake Lanier, the search continued Wednesday for a Cobb County man who left his inflatable raft to retrieve an oar when he went under. Xi Zhu, 56, of Marietta, never resurfaced after going under in the Shoal Creek area, investigators said.
In Lumpkin County, a 15-year-old was swimming with family members Monday afternoon in Dicks Creek within the Chattahoochee National Forest when he slipped on a rock and went under, the Department of Natural Resources said. On Tuesday, the county coroner identified the boy as Michael Cole Jr., who lived in Lithonia.
In northwest Georgia, a 3-year-old was found unresponsive in Carter’s Lake in Murray County, according to the DNR. Family members attempted lifesaving measures before game wardens and deputies arrived, but the child did not survive.
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