18-year-old Chance Werner drowned during a botched game in which people launch someone off a dock in a shopping trolley. Courtesy: Fox 5 News

A TEENAGER died hours after graduating from school during a botched game involving a shopping trolley.

Chance Werner, 18, from Catersville in Georgia, drowned on Saturday while playing a game in which people launch someone off a dock in a shopping trolley.

He was playing the game with other teens and an adult at Dock D, at the Holiday Harbor Marina in Bartow County, just before midnight.

Usually when people play this game, the cart is tied to a pole at the dock — but in this instance, Werner decided to act as the anchor point, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

NEW: Photo of 18 y/o Chance Werner who died in shopping cart game at Lake Allatoona http://t.co/FbAZEDD48e #wsbtv pic.twitter.com/2YJnmKhxft — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 26, 2014 Sub-type: comment CAPTION: NEW: Photo of 18 y/o Chance Werner who died in shopping cart game at Lake Allatoona http://t.co/FbAZEDD48e #wsbtv pic.twitter.com/2YJnmKhxft— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 26, 2014 Sub-type: comment CAPTION: NEW: Photo of 18 y/o Chance Werner who died in shopping cart game at Lake Allatoona http://t.co/FbAZEDD48e #wsbtv pic.twitter.com/2YJnmKhxft— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 26, 2014

Melissa Cummings, spokeswoman for Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said the rope was tied to the cart and Werner’s belt loop.

When the cart was pushed off the dock, it dragged Werner down and he drowned, she said.

His body was found early Sunday morning in about nine metres of water and he was still tied to the cart.