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.
Another incident at the park Monday afternoon was a close call for 21-year-old Kenzie Wetzel, of Douglasville, Georgia, who was walking along the area above Little River Falls when she slipped on a rock, became caught up in the current and was washed over the edge of the falls into the pool of water 35 feet below, Switzer said in a separate statement issued Tuesday.
"Wetzel was able to make her way to the rocks in the middle of the pool and await help," Switzer said. "First responders were able to get to Wetzel's location, assess her injuries and determine the best course of action to extract Wetzel from the canyon."
Switzer said an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency helicopter was dispatched to extract Wetzel and deliver her to the Little River Falls parking lot for evaluation. She was then taken to an area hospital by an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter, he said.
Bates' drowning on Sunday was the second life claimed by the Little River in just five days.
Dustin Bryan Arroyo Garcia, 19, of Cobb County, Georgia, drowned after being swept away in the Little River on May 19, according to park officials. He was with a 21-year-old woman, also from Cobb County, officials said.
Garcia and the woman, who has not been named, were swimming in the waters in the pool beneath Little River Falls when they became caught up in the current. The woman managed to escape, officials said.
The pair of recent drownings follow another one on April 3 that claimed the life of a 33-year-old Chilton County, Alabama, resident who vanished while swimming on the Little River and never reappeared.
(READ MORE: Man drowns while kayaking at Little River Canyon preserve)
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.