A water release by the TVA provides a water playground for rafters and kayakers along the Upper Ocoee River.
Each year, more than 300,000 visitors flock to the Ocoee River in East Tennessee to ride its roller-coaster rapids and tumbling currents.
But the deaths of two rafters on the river in the past month – the first fatalities in six years – have brought new scrutiny to the rafting industry, prompting questions about the safety of the popular vacation activity and the river itself.
On June 19, 16-year-old Andrew Silvershein and six others on his raft were thrown as they barreled down a Class IV rapid called “Mikey’s.”
Silvershein’s leg became lodged in underwater rocks, holding him under. Though he still had a pulse when guides pulled him out, he died en route to the hospital. The teen – a Broward County, Fla., resident who was part of a group trip from a Georgia summer camp – was wearing a life jacket and a helmet.
Two weeks earlier and just a half mile downstream, a Class IV rapid called “Humongous” flipped a raft carrying Arlington, Tenn., resident Jay Mc-Kelroy, 37, and five others. Everyone made it back to the raft except McKelroy, who was declared dead after being pulled from the water. He, too, was wearing a life jacket and helmet.