Teen girl drowns in East Tennessee

Sunday, July 31, 2011

TOWNSEND, Tenn. - Emergency crews recovered the body of a 17-year-old girl in East Tennessee after she drowned at a popular swimming hole in Blount County.

Amber Rose Mirisola of Mount Dora, Fla., died after she slipped and fell over a 15-foot waterfall inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, according to parks spokesman Bob Miller. She went under Saturday at a popular swimming hole known as "The Sinks," the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.

Her body was recovered Saturday evening by local fire, law enforcement and park service personnel.

Miller says that witnesses reported the teenager had been wading in ankle-deep water trying to cross the river above the falls. He says she became entrapped in chest-deep water in a crevasse in the bottom of the falls and was held under water by the force of the falls. Witnesses tried to pull the girl free but were unsuccessful.