A 20-year-old on an inner tube disappeared into Georgia river. Search crews just recovered his body

MACON, Ga. — Search teams have recovered the body of a 20-year-old who drowned in a river on Sunday evening.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office responded around 5:30 p.m. to the Frank Amerson Park on the Ocmulgee River.

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The sheriff’s office said a group of friends were out on the river when Raymund Ellison Jr. disappeared. His friends told deputies they saw Ellison on an inner tube behind them.

When they looked away and then back, Ellison was no longer there.

The sheriff’s office, fire department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia State Patrol launched a search. After two days of searching, they found Ellison’s body around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

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This is the latest drowning that the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office has investigated at Amerson River Park.

In February, 22-year-old Javion Whitest and two of his friends were swimming to an area where rocks were visible above the water. Whitest struggled against the current and never made it. Search crews recovered his body days later.

WGXA-TV in Macon reports that new rules were put in place at the park a month later. The rules require anyone who enters the river to wear a life jacket no matter their age and ban anyone under 16 from entering the river without adult supervision.

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