For the second time in two weeks a rafter has drowned while navigating the Ocoee River in southeastern Tennessee.
The latest victim was a 16-year-old from Broward County, Florida, who was rafting with a group from a summer camp in Clayton, Ga. He went under about a half-mile upriver from where a 36-year-old Tennessee man died June 5 after his raft flipped.
Negligence does not appear to be a factor in either accident, said Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
"There doesn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary," she told the AJC Monday. "It is white water and can be unpredictable."
Nicknamed the roller coaster of the South, the Ocoee, roughly 100 miles north of Atlanta, is a popular whitewater destination for adventurous Georgians. The Ocoee served as host for the kayaking and canoeing events during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The recent drownings were the first on the river since July 2005, when a guide drowned while trying to free a stuck raft, Calabrese-Benton said. Ten years earlier, a 58-year-old Smyrna man drowned after he was pulled under water by strong currents.
The latest incident occurred on a section of rapids dubbed "Mikey's," Calabrese-Benton said. The teen was lodged under water after his raft hit a rock, knocking all passengers overboard. He was wearing a life preserver and helmet at the time, Calabrese-Benton said.
Rescue attempts failed, and the boy was pronounced dead at Copper Basin Hospital Sunday afternoon.
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