MCADENVILLE, N.C. -- One man is dead and another is recovering after a swift water rescue.
Crews pulled the two kayakers from the rain-swollen South Fork of the Catawba River in Gaston County on Saturday.
One of the men, Stephen Brian Wright, seemed to be OK and refused medical attention.
The other was found unconscious with what was described as life-threatening injuries.
That man has been identified as Eric Walker Bohanan. He was rushed to Gaston Memorial Hospital where he later died.
The fiancee of one of the men was waiting down river to pick them up.
"She seen an oar come down the river so that led her to believe something happened," said Jeff Hicks of the Gaston County Emergency Management Service.
Rescue crews found the two men, who had made it to an island in the river.
Wright was plucked off and was taken to shore where he was checked out in an ambulance. He was apparently OK and did not want any treatment.
Bohanan was not so fortunate, said Hicks. "From what I understand he had been clinging to a tree and from the water temperature, just went down into the water."
The recent heavy rains have swelled the river to nearly two feet above flood stage and the temperature of the water, according to rescue workers, was about 39 degrees.
"It's very dangerous even under normal conditions, let alone the conditions that are out there," said Tommy Almond, the director of Gaston County Emergency Management.
