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TWRA: Fisherman dies after falling from boat into river in Meigs County

The incident happened Friday morning while the man was fishing with a friend.

A man who suffered a medical problem and fell into the water while fishing in Meigs County has died, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The unnamed Dyer County man, who was in his mid 70s, is the 11th boating-related fatality this year in Tennessee, according to TWRA. On Thursday, a Loudon County man drowned while trying to dock his boat on Watts Bar Lake.

Friday's incident happened about 9:30 a.m. The man was fishing with a friend near the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers when he appeared to become ill and fall overboard. He wasn't wearing a life jacket.

"The angler still on board jumped into the water and pulled the man to the boat where he called 911 and drove towards the Highway 58 boat ramp," a release from TWRA states.

Authorities pronounced the man dead at the scene, and his body was taken to the Meigs County morgue.

TWRA has identified the man who died Thursday in Loudon County as James Doyle Frost, 75. He was trying to tie his vessel to a dock at the Tennessee National Marina when he fell, went underwater and did not resurface.

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