A 15-year-old is dead after a kayak overturned on the Hiwassee River, according to a news release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
According to investigators, a group of nine adults and 11 juveniles left in kayaks and tubes Saturday on a trip along the Hiwassee River. The 15-year-old victim was last seen behind the group on a sit-on-top kayak, officials said.
TWRA officers along with Polk County emergency medical services were dispatched to the Quinn Springs area just before 4:45 p.m. when members of the party "discovered the boy down river, unresponsive and away from his kayak," the news release states. The kayak was later found against a large, downed tree.
The victim was transported and declared deceased at the Starr Regional Hospital in Etowah, Tennessee.
The name of the victim has not been released and the incident is under investigation.
- Compiled by Kiara Green