Skip to main content
Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Boating fatalities so far in 2024 down from 2023

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Boats are seen along Chickamauga Lake on July 8, 2023. A minor injury was reported at the lake over Labor Day weekend, but Tennessee did not see any boating-related deaths over the holiday.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Boats are seen along Chickamauga Lake on July 8, 2023. A minor injury was reported at the lake over Labor Day weekend, but Tennessee did not see any boating-related deaths over the holiday.

By Ben Benton 5 min read

Boating fatalities in Tennessee are down slightly from 2023 following a Labor Day holiday weekend with no boating-related deaths statewide for the second year in a row.

There have been 16 boating-related deaths in the state so far in 2024, according to a news release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. That total is down four fatalities from 20 last year, when there also were no deaths over summer’s last holiday hurrah.

There were two minor injury boating incidents between Aug. 30 and Monday morning on Chickamauga Lake, which lies in Hamilton, Meigs and Rhea counties, and Dale Hollow Lake in Clay and Pickett counties on the Tennessee-Kentucky line between Knoxville and Nashville, the agency reported. There was one incident involving property damage over the holiday weekend.

Reasons for the decrease in fatalities are not known for certain, Emily Buck, spokesperson for the state agency, said in an email.

BOATING FATALITIES

Boating-related deaths so far in 2024 are down slightly compared to fatalities at the same point in 2023.