A 72-year-old Florida man died Friday after falling overboard from a moving pontoon boat on Watts Bar Reservoir, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Stephen Mason of Homosassa, Florida, was boating with his wife and friends near Sand Island when he fell overboard and suffered injuries, the agency said in a press release. Mason was not wearing a life jacket.
State game wardens, Sheriff’s offices from Rhea and Meigs counties, emergency medical crews and volunteer agencies responded to a 911 call shortly after 2 p.m.
Responders declared Mason dead at the scene and moved his body moved to the Meigs County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The wildlife agency said his death was Tennessee’s 16th boating-related fatality of 2026.