Drowning at Townsend Wye
LyttleBryan July 12th, 2011
From the NPS sad news…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Media Briefing, Monday, July 11, 2011
Drowning at Townsend wyeA drowning victim was recovered from Great Smoky Mountains National
Park today in a section of the Little River at the Townsend Wye, a popular
day use area in Blount County.Dick Chijioke, 34, from Plano, Tex., was tubing with his family when
his rental tube tipped and he fell into a 12-foot deep pool of water.
Eyewitnesses reported that he failed to resurface after he slipped out of
the innertube. Several people from his group, along with other visitors,
attempted to find him underwater before the emergency personnel arrived.The Park received a report about the accident at 11:22 a.m. from
Blount County 911. The Blount County Special Operations Dive team was
called in to assist with their underwater rescue gear and they located
Chijioke at 12:26 p.m. near the area where he fell into the water. Rural
Metro paramedics tried to resuscitate him on the way to Blount Memorial
Hospital, but he was pronounced dead by hospital officials at 1:05 p.m.Other emergency crews assisting Park Rangers were the Townsend Police
and Volunteer Fire Departments, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and Blount
County Fire Department.For more information, contact Nancy Gray at 865-436-1208.
Nancy Gray
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
107 Park Headquarters Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
865/436-1208 phone
865/436-1204 fax
e:mail: Nancy_Gray@NPS.GOV“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” John Muir
- Hiking
- Comments(1)
They really didn’t say anything did they? Sounds like A: either he couldn’t swim or B: the drowning was secondary to a natural event such as heart attack or stroke. I would go with B since he tipped. It was also a really hot day and people tend to not drink when they are in the water (or drink beer). Could of passed out….