The Memorial Day holiday took a tragic turn in South Georgia when a 21-year-old man who was tubing with friends drowned. His drowning Sunday on the Ocmulgee River was the only reported water-related fatality on state waterways this weekend.
One person was injured in a dual jet ski crash on Lake Allatoona in Northwest Georgia, and multiple BUIs were handed out to boaters on lakes across the state, mostly Lake Lanier.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), game wardens are still searching for the man who drowned.
“The victim got off his tube to dislodge another tuber that was stuck on a log. He began to struggle, went under, and did not resurface,” says Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division Public Affairs Officer Mark McKinnon.
The incident happened Sunday evening at Macon’s Frank Amerson Park.
As of early Tuesday morning, May 30, game wardens were still searching the river with sonar equipment. Georgia State Patrol Aviation has flown the area. Macon/Bibb County Fire had divers on the scene and was also conducting surface searches.
One person sustained a non-life-threatening injury in the jet ski crash on Lake Allatoona.
Elsewhere, McKinnon says a boat struck the North Jetties in the St. Mary’s River entrance in Camden County. There were no injuries.
According to DNR, there were no accidents or injuries on Northeast Georgia’s Lake Lanier or Lake Hartwell during the long holiday weekend.
