A 17-year-old jumped into Chickamauga Lake from a boat Monday and never resurfaced, a state agency said.
The boy’s body was recovered overnight, and an investigation is underway, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency.
The death brings the number of boating-related fatalities in the state to nine in 2024, the agency said in a news release. Authorities have not identified the teen drowning victim.
The incident was reported about 8 p.m. Monday in an area north of Hixson Marina near Grays Bluff on Chickamauga Lake, the release said. Grays Bluff is on the west side of Chickamauga Lake.
Wildlife agency officers along with other local agencies recovered the body of the 17-year-old, identified by the state agency only as a Hamilton County resident, using a remote-operated underwater vehicle to search, authorities said.
The boy “was reportedly boating with family and friends when he and two others decided to jump into the water and swim to shore,” the agency said. “The two other swimmers reported the 17-year-old struggled, went under the water and did not resurface. None of the swimmers were wearing life jackets.”
Those on the boat and in the water attempted to rescue the teen, the agency said. His body was recovered around 11:30 p.m. in 21 feet of water, according to the agency. The body was transported to the Hamilton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
NINTH DEATH
The eighth boating fatality was notched in Roane County over Memorial Day weekend when a 19-year-old jumped into Watts Bar Lake from a pontoon boat and did not resurface.
The Roane County man was identified as Braeden Hartup, according to officials. That incident happened May 26.
There were 27 boating fatalities in 2023, down two deaths from 2022, and this year, there have now been four boating fatalities in the Chattanooga region including the most recent one on Chickamauga Lake.
(READ MORE: Two die in Meigs County after jump from bluff)
On Feb. 26, Philip Acord, 78, of Hamilton County, fell into the water while fishing with a friend on Chickamauga Lake near the Ware Branch boat ramp about a mile upstream on the Tennessee River from Harrison Bay State Park. Acord was the longtime CEO of Chattanooga’s Chambliss Center for Children and was the first boater to die in Tennessee this year.
On May 4, Devin Lane Kunkle, 17, was fishing on the Sequatchie River when he drowned after his kayak capsized at Ketner’s Mill Dam, according to officials. Witnesses said the teen was seen paddling toward the opposite bank when his kayak overturned about midway in churning waters. Bystanders who made several attempts to help said Kunkle went under and did not resurface.
Two more boating-related fatalities happened during this year’s National Safe Boating Week, one on Kentucky Lake in Henry County and another on Old Hickory Lake in Wilson County, agency officials said.
James David Heath, 75, of Paris, Tennessee, was found unresponsive in the water near a boat on Kentucky Lake May 19, officials said in a news release. Heath had launched from the Springville Pumphouse boat ramp and somehow ended up in the water. A bystander pulled Heath from the water, but life-saving efforts were unsuccessful.
(READ MORE: Two drown in Tennessee River near Chattanooga’s Riverpark)
The same day, Keaton Mills, 21, of Lebanon, Tennessee, was ejected from the vessel he was riding in when the operator crossed a wake, according to authorities. The operator of the boat immediately went to Mills’ aid and was able to get Mills to a nearby vessel, where CPR was administered. Mills was later pronounced dead at a Nashville hospital.
Other boating-related deaths in 2024 include a kayaker in Franklin County and two others who drowned while swimming from boats — one in Davidson County and another in Sumner County, according to the agency. None of the victims in this year’s fatal incidents were wearing life jackets.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.