Officials stated that seven individuals died on Georgia waterways over the holiday weekend, including one who drowned in a lake with a tragic past.
Infamous Lake
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a two-boat crash on the Wilmington River in Savannah killed five persons and wounded four others on Saturday. A single household was responsible for four of the victims. Three of the deceased were not discovered until Sunday morning.
The crash's cause is still being investigated. According to the Savannah Morning News, one of the survivors has been charged with boating while intoxicated.
Following the crash, Bill Koster, the chief of operations for Chatham County Emergency Services, told reporters, "Rough day today."
On Saturday, Kaiden Franklin, 5, was drowned while playing on a float on Lake Allatoona in Clear Creek in northwest Georgia. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, his body was discovered later that afternoon.
He had recently completed kindergarten at Rome's Model Elementary School. The school released a statement on Facebook saying, "Our deepest sadness is having to disclose the death of one of our school babies."
According to the Forsyth County News, a 20-year-old male was found dead in Lake Lanier at a Margaritaville resort in the north Georgia mountains on Sunday. His identity was being held by the police pending notification of his relatives.
Since 1994, more than 200 people have perished in the lake, which has a strange and eerie history, in swimming and watercraft accidents. In the 1950s, the famous 38,000-acre lake north of Atlanta was built by flooding valley villages and covering existing graves.
Ecologists continue to condemn the lake's environmental devastation, and many residents believe it is haunted. According to legend, the "Lady of the Lake," clad in blue, is said to represent a woman who drowned in 1958.
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Drowning
Drowning killed an estimated 236 000 people globally in 2019, making it a severe public health issue. Injuries accounted for about 8% of total world mortality in 2019. Drowning is the third highest cause of death from an unintentional injury, accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths.
Drownings are becoming more common in lakes, rivers, backyard pools, and other inland water bodies around the United States.
Experts argue that because fewer children learned to swim during the coronavirus pandemic's lengthy stay-at-home periods when schools and public pools were closed, children are now at increased danger of drowning.
Rising Number of Drowning Cases in the US
Ben Hoffman, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention expressed his dissatisfaction with their lack of preparedness.
"Last year, it was tough for folks to get swimming lessons," Hoffman told ABC's Good Morning America.
"And, from what I've heard, it'll be much more difficult this year because everything has already sold out."
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued its 2021 annual drowning and submersion report.
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