Jitendra Patel had gone hiking with his friends.
AB Wire
An Indian American man from Georgia, Jitendra Patel, 59, drowned in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the Tennessee side, last month.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials say they recovered the body of Patel, of Roswell. Patel was hiking with friends around noon when he reportedly slipped into the water near Abrams Falls, reported Wate.com.
Patel was last seen at the water’s surface a few minutes later after friends tried to pull him from the water. Park rangers arrived on scene just after 2 p.m. but were unable to find Patel. Divers from the Blount Special Operations Response Team arrived around 5 p.m. to lead the recovery effort. His body was found after 8 p.m.
“We believe that the individual just fell. He was sitting there taking pictures of the waterfalls, fell into the river,” said Chief Ranger Steve Kloster. “He was never seen again until the dive team was able to locate his body and bring it up later that evening about 8:30.”
Rangers say Patel fell off the slippery rocks beneath the waterfall and was swept under with the current from the falls.
“What I’ve been told is there’s a little bit of a shelf and a wall down there, and the water goes anywhere from 12-15 feet all the way up to about 35 feet, and so they do get underneath that shelf and pinned down there,” said Kloster.
The Asheville-Citizen Times park spokeswoman Dana Soehn saying that over the last 20 years, there have been 22 drownings parkwide. Five of those occurred at Abrams Falls.
“Mr. Patel was taking photos near the base of the waterfall and slipped into the water,” Soehn said. “The base of the waterfall area is generally very wet from the spray of the water, which can make the rocks slippery. We caution people to stay on and near the trail with a sign in the area that describes the swift water currents in the area.”