Authorities have identified a 23-year-old man who drowned Sunday afternoon at the Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne, Alabama, as a resident of Indiana. Meanwhile, a subsequent incident at the park on Monday in which a Georgia woman slipped and fell into the water, washing over the falls, had a happier conclusion.
Sunday afternoon’s drowning death is the second at the park in less than a week.
Cherokee County Coroner Dr. Jeremy Deaton identified the victim as Austin Rowland Bates from Greentown, Indiana.
Bates was swimming at Little Falls near a group of friends when he went below water and didn’t resurface, National Park Service spokesman Matthew Switzer said in a statement issued Sunday night. First responders were dispatched to the scene to initiate a search and rescue operation around 2 p.m. CDT Sunday, Switzer said.
National Park Service rangers, Fischer Rescue Squad, Fort Payne Fire Department and DeKalb Ambulance Service also responded to the scene to assist in the rescue and recovery operation, officials said. Bates’ body was located and recovered shortly after 3 p.m. and turned over to the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office around 4:20 p.m. Sunday.