Body of South Carolina man recovered after suspected drowning, coroner says
By Noah Feit,
The State, Columbia, SC
April 17, 2023
The body of a South Carolina man was recovered a day after he went missing while kayaking with a friend, and his death is believed to be a drowning, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office said. The death of Tommy C. Bellamy, a 35-year-old Beech Island resident, is under investigation after his body was found in the Savannah River, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a Sunday night news release. On Saturday, Bellamy and a male friend started kayaking from the Savannah Rapid Park in Evans, Georgia, according to the release. That’s on the river, near the state line between Georgia and South Carolina, about 5 miles from Exit 1 on Interstate 20.
The two paddled downstream until they reached an area of rapids, when they got out of their kayaks and began swimming in the rapids, Ables said. After several times of swimming in the rapids, Bellamy became distressed and started calling for help before going beneath the surface, according to the release. A witness who heard the calls for help alerted authorities at about 3:50 p.m., and Bellamy’s friend was later located by authorities when he returned to the area in search of the missing kayaker, Ables said.
Bellamy’s body was not recovered until about noon on Sunday, when South Carolina Department of Natural Resources divers found the missing man, according to the release. Bellamy’s body was discovered in the area of Indian Rock Court in North Augusta, Ables said. Information about how far that is from where Bellamy was last heard calling for help was not available, and there was no word on the depth of the water in that part of the Savannah River. An autopsy will be conducted in Newberry, according to the release. Both the coroner’s office and the North Augusta Department of Public Safety are continuing to investigate Bellamy’s death.
Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article274392685.html#storylink=cpy
