Victim in fatal Fort Loudoun Dam boating accident identified

LENOIR CITY — Authorities have identified three North Carolina men involved in a fatal boating accident at Fort Loudoun Dam on Saturday morning.

A.J. Re', 23, of Denver, North Carolina, was killed. The operator of the boat was 49-year-old Donald McCorkle, and the other passenger was 22-year-old Clint McCorkle, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The three men were in a fishing boat about 10 a.m. when it started getting pulled into water being discharged from the dam.

All three men went overboard as the boat got too close to the dam, capsized and was forced under by the falling water, according to TWRA spokesman Matt Cameron.

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The men were thought to be wearing life jackets, but the force of the water caused some of the life jackets to be torn off, the TWRA said in a news release Saturday.

Nearby fishermen were able to reach the men and get them into their boats. At least one of the men was treated at a hospital.

Cameron said the boat later resurfaced.

The accident came amid days of heavy rainfall that made many of Tennessee's waterways more treacherous. TWRA urges everyone to use extreme caution when boating in moving waters.