Authorities recovered the body of a canoeist Monday after he fell in the Yadkin River on Friday.
The body of Damien Mayes, 25, was found near the Red, White and Blue bridge in the Roaring River community, about 15 miles east of Wilkesboro, said Charles Sale, a senior wildlife resources enforcement officer.
Emergency personnel removed Mayes' body at about 4:30 p.m. from the river, the Journal Patriot newspaper of North Wilkesboro reported. Mayes, who lived in the Moravian Falls community, was in a canoe with Corin Palmer, 26, of Millers Creek when the boat overturned in the river about 4 p.m. Friday, the newspaper reported.
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Palmer told authorities that the canoe overturned when Mayes was removing his life jacket and his shirt, the newspaper reported. Palmer was able to get the shore, but Mayes was swept downstream. And Mayes didn't know how to swim, authorities said.
A medical examiner was at the scene where Mayes' body was found, Sale said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reduced the flow of water in the Yadkin River from the W. Kerr Scott Dam to help authorities find Mayes' body, Sale said.