A tragic incident on Norris Lake resulted in the death of a 75-year-old man this past Saturday, reported the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). The man fell from a boat and was submerged briefly before being pulled from the water unresponsive. Despite immediate CPR efforts by bystanders and continuation by emergency personnel, the victim was pronounced dead at the Campbell County Medical Center, making this the eighth fatality in a series of boating incidents investigated by the TWRA in 2025. This information comes from an article reported by WVLT.
Rescue operations were particularly challenging on the day, as TWRA officers responded to two off-highway vehicle crashes in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area in addition to the fatal boating accident. Details provided by the TWRA include a side-by-side OHV that fell off the edge while being loaded onto a trailer, trapping the operator underneath, as detailed in a statement obtained by WBIR. The operator, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries, was later airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
The agency's officers were also called to the scene of another OHV accident, where a four-wheeler veered off the road and crashed into a rocky area, leaving the driver unconscious at around 6:45 p.m. Yet again, emergency services executed a precise coordination to find a suitable landing zone to airlift the injured party to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, an incident that the individual is expected to recover from, according to the same WBIR release.
Amidst these incidents, "This marks the eighth fatal boating incident investigated by TWRA officers so far this year," a TWRA spokesperson mentioned, stressing the string of mishaps that the agency has had to contend with. Additional information regarding the severity of the incidents and specifics on victim identities has not been broadly released, with TWRA opting to keep details close while families and affected communities are notified, as noted by coverage from WATE. The LaFollette Rescue Squad and the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office were cited for their assistance during the day's rescue operations.
