Teenager dies in apparent drowning at South Carolina lake, coroner says

One teenager died and another was rescued from a lake in South Carolina on Labor Day, according to the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office.

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Kamell Brown, a 17-year-old from Holly Hill, is the person who died Monday in an apparent drowning in Lake Marion, Orangeburg County Coroner Sean Fogle said.

At about 4 p.m. Monday, deputies responded to the Eutawville area near Indian Bluff Recreation Park on Lake Marion for a call about two teens who went into the water but had not resurfaced, according to the sheriff’s office.

A deputy arrived in time to pull one of the teens from the lake, the sheriff’s office said. The deputy performed CPR and resuscitated that teen, according to the sheriff’s office.

Further information on the surviving teen’s condition was not available.

When his body was recovered, Brown was pronounced dead at the scene, Fogle said.

The apparent drowning remains under investigation by both the sheriff’s office and coroner’s office. An Autopsy is scheduled for later this week, according to Fogle.

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No other injuries were reported.

“It’s tragic that a holiday turned into a nightmare for the community,” Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said in a news release. “We do ask you pray for those affected by this terrible ordeal.”

At 110,600 acres, Lake Marion is the largest lake in South Carolina, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. With 511 miles of shoreline, Lake Marion touches Berkeley, Calhoun, Clarendon, Orangeburg and Sumter counties.

It has a maximum depth of over 76 feet, but the average depth is about 13 feet, according to South Carolina DNR. There was no word about the depth of water where the teens were discovered.