UPDATE: At 10 p.m., recovery efforts were continuing on the river at Dycusburg.
DYCUSBURG - Rescue personnel from several area agencies are at Dycusburg, dragging the Cumberland River for the body of 19-year-old Travis Conditt of Marion, who is believed to have drowned while swimming with a friend Wednesday afternoon.
Conditt and 19-year-old Jordan Wadsworth of Marion were swimming in the river near the boat ramp while two friends, Jacob Pitman of Possum Trot and Stormy DePriest of Benton were sitting on rip rap on the riverbank.
The boys had been swimming in the area for about 30 minutes when they tried to swim to a green buoy marking the river channel, about 100 feet from shore. Conditt was the first to reach the buoy, and as the two turned to swim back, he began to cramp. His companion tried coaxing him onto his back in a floating position, but Conditt went under. Pitman went into the river, but the victim was already under water.
Wadsworth got out of the water called 911 and tried to crank a small boat parked nearby but it would not start.
The boys had been swimming in that part of the river before, just three days earlier.
Rescue personnel say that with the water temperature of the river at 88 degrees, the victim's body should come to the surface within about 24 hours if he is not found sooner. The Area 2 Dive Team was expected to arrive and begin searching at about 7 p.m.
The Crittenden Press / Copyright 2010
