A 50-year-old North Carolina man died Saturday morning when the raft he was aboard overturned in the Ocoee River.
The victim was Gary Brown of Clayton.
Mr. Brown and five other occupants along with a guide were ejected after the raft they were navigating overturned in a rapid.
The victim was unresponsive when he was recovered from the water further downriver. Investigators report that he was wearing a lifejacket and that there were no external injuries. The accident is being ruled as an accidental drowning.
TWRA officials said, "While capsizing and overturning is common while whitewater rafting on the Ocoee, fatalities are not. This is only the fourth fatal accident on the Ocoee River in the past four years. There was a similar drowning on the river in 2011, none in 2012, and two in two days in 2013."
The accident remains under a joint investigation between the TWRA and Tennessee State Parks.
He was on a raft operated by Endless River Adventures that was going through the "Table Saw" rapid.