Teen Drowns on Camping Trip

A 16-year-old Tennessee boy died while on a white-water rafting trip with other teens attending a popular Georgia camp recently.

Andrew Silvershein, 16 of Davie, Tenn, was on the Ocoee River in southeastern Tennessee when the raft he and six other teens were on flipped in a part of the river rated as Class 3+ on a scale of 1 to 5. The other six teens made it to shore safely. But Silvershein did not emerge from the water immediately and rescuers searched the area until they recovered his body. Silvershein's younger sister, also a camper, was also on the excursion, reports say.

The company hosting the camp rafting outings, Big Frog Expeditions, reportedly informed officials that experienced guides rode in every raft, and all participants wore helmets and life jackets.

Campers' parents were immediately notified by email and then by phone. The rafting trip was cancelled and the surviving teens were returned to Georgia, where grief counselors assisted in the grieving process.

Reports also say this was the second river drowning on the Ocoee River since the white-water rafting season began a month earlier. The camp which arranged the outing was reported as Ramah Darom, a Jewish summer camp in the mountains of northern Georgia.

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