Apparent Drowning

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 19th, rangers were notified that a fisherman on the New River at the Grandview Sandbar camping area had seen a body in the river. Rangers and a special agent assigned to the park responded along with local police and EMS. The victim, a 32-year-old man from the Beckley area who was employed at a local jail as a corrections officer, was found lodged against a rock about a quarter mile downstream from the campground. Rangers recovered the body, which was transported upriver by a Beaver FD rescue boat to a Jan-Care ambulance. All indications are that the man drowned, but results of the autopsy are still pending.