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Farragut High student drowns in Fort Loudoun Lake

TWRA said an 18-year-old drowned at the Little Turkey Creek area of Fort Loudoun Lake around 4:30 p.m.

UPDATE, THURSDAY 8:30 a.m.: The 18-year-old who drowned after falling overboard from a boat in Fort Loudoun Lake has been identified as Joshua Armon Davis, of Knoxville.

TWRA officials said Davis was a student at Farragut High School.

"TWRA offers sincerest prayers and condolences to the family of Mr. Davis, his friends with him at the time of the incident, and his classmates and faculty at Farragut High School," an agency spokesperson said.

TWRA is investigating the incident. An autopsy has been ordered by a medical examiner with the Regional Forensics Center.

This is the sixth drowning statewide in 2017. Four of the victims were in a boat, one was in a kayak, and another fell out of a canoe.

State officials say three of the victims were not wearing life jackets.

UPDATE 10 p.m.: The TWRA and Knox County rescue crews said they've found the body of the 18-year-old man that drowned at Fort Loudoun Lake in West Knox County.

Crews discovered the body around 9:45 p.m. after searching the lake with a sonar-equipped remote search vehicle.

The victim fell overboard from a boat that was adrift in the Little Turkey Creek area and drowned. Witnesses said he had a personal floatation device in his hand when he fell in, but went under and never resurfaced.

TWRA said the victim's name is being withheld until tomorrow out of respect for his family. A medical examiner with the Regional Forensics Center ordered and autopsy and TWRA is investigating the incident.

EARLIER STORY:

As of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Knox County Sheriff's Office said crews have shifted from rescue operations into recovery mode to find an 18-year-old man who went underwater.

Authorities have sent in divers to find the man's body in the waters off Northshore. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said its office in Chattanooga sent an investigator with a remote search vehicle equipped with sonar that can continue searching through the night to assist in the recovery.

The drowning was reported about 4:30 p.m. near the Cove at Concord Park off Northshore Drive.

According to Rural/Metro authorities, two people were with the teen in a skiing-type boat and made a call for help. They said the he fell overboard and was drifting in the Little Turkey Creek area.

The witnesses said he had a personal flotation device in his hand when he fell in, but went under and never resurfaced.

Personnel from the Knox County Sheriff's Office and the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad also were on the scene.

A chaplain has been with the teen's family to update them on the search.

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