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>live in small town
>river float is popular summertime activity
>life jackets mandatory
>river kills at least one kid a year
>90% of the stretch is slow and perfectly safe to go without a life jacket
>deadly undercurrent in certain parts where it narrows
>if you're not wearing a life jacket and you fall off, you can expect to get sucked under for at least 90 seconds
>you're lucky if it spits you out at all, at certain water levels your body will stay there spinning for weeks
>floating one nice day
>I'm a frady cat so i wear my jacket at all times
>friends are constantly slipping out of their tubes to swim around and then swim back, none with life jackets
>I'm drinking gatorade and relaxing
>pull off occasionally to jump off rocks and a secret rope swing
>get to the last 1/4 mile before the park where we land
>notorious part with strong current
>thought everyone was on the same page as to where it was dangerous and to stay on the tube
>fair amount of separation between us at this point, but we can all at least see the person in front and back of each
>get through narrows
>doggy paddle tube to the beach
>im the 2nd of 5 to arrive
>we're pulling our tubes up onto the beach and we see the last guy's tube drift by
>wtf.webm
>hear 4th guy yelling
>run back from the beach to along the rocky, thorny shore in our bare feet
>see 4th guy holding an overhanging tree branch fighting the current while keeping his tube under him
>yelling "ANON IS IN THE WATER"
>hearts sank, he was in the undertow
>busy beach nearby, two women heard as well and stopped us from going in
>can't see him, praying to god he makes it out the other side
>4 teenage boys hysterically crying while a crowd gathers and tries in vain to get something into the water that might help
He drowned, and his body was stuck there until S&R recovered it 3 hours later. He was a strong swimmer and our best guess is that he thought he would swim the rapids since it was fast and there was nothing to run into.
