DANVILLE, Va. – After one man died on the Dan River Thursday while out tubing with a group, emergency officials are warning people to practice water safety.
“The current was nominal,” Bryan Fox, Deputy Chief for Danville Life Saving Crew said. “It was normal. River level normal. I think it was just an unfortunate incident. No personal floatation device makes a big difference.”
Fox said no life jacket was found on the man.
He said even if you think you’re a strong swimmer, you should always wear a life jacket in the river.
“It’s a very unfortunate event,” Morgan Kurtz, Battalion Chief with Danville Life Saving Crew said. “Unfortunately, we do encounter this quite often so it does hit the community pretty hard.”
Kurtz said you should prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario.
“The parties that were with him were performing CPR, which is another very important thing that everybody should be educated on is just knowing how to do CPR,” Kurtz said.
The group recommends only going out on the water with others.
“Stay in contact with your group,” Fox said. “Let people know where you are. If you’re going to stop for a minute, and they’re going to continue, make sure you catch back up with them and that you check in periodically if you haven’t heard from a member of your group that you separated.”