River Rafting Tragedies: Two Dead on Tennessee's Ocoee River

By: Associated Press

Published: August 26,2013

 

 

 

 

Getty Images

This photo shows a kayaker on the Ocoee River in the Cherokee National Forest in Ducktown, Tennessee during the US Whitewater Kayak/Canoe Olympic Trials in April, 2000.

BENTON, Tenn. — Authorities say two women have died in two days while rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that an Atlanta woman who was rafting with family and friends was thrown overboard in rapids. She reportedly grabbed a rescue rope but then lost consciousness.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation told WRCB-TV that a woman from Smyrna, Tenn., fell out of a raft on Sunday morning when it got stuck in rapids.
Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Scott Brooks says the river flow was higher than normal Saturday. The TVA controls the amount of water in the river with three dams.
The authority says it is looking into the river's flow and height.

MORE: Volcanic Rivers From Above

 

20 / 34

Russian photographer Andre Ermolaev captures the rivers off of Iceland's southern coast and its central highland region for his series taken in the summer of 2011 to 2013. (Credit: Andre Ermolaev)