An 18-year-old man died after falling off a paddle board and drowning in the Orman Dam swimming area near Belle Fourche on Wednesday evening.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a person in distress at 7:51 PM. When emergency responders arrived on the scene, two of the three people who had been on the paddle boards were safe, but the third person was missing.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Pennington County Dive Team, which is made up of multiple agencies in the Rapid City area. The dive team used underwater robotic units to search for the missing person.
At 12:10 AM on Thursday morning, the dive team located the missing person and retrieved his body. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Butte County Coroner.
The name of the victim will be released after all of his relatives have been notified.
The incident is still under investigation by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.