A 17 year old has drowned in a lake near Chattanooga which marks the 9th boating related death of the year in Tennessee.

Ryder Bigelow was boating with a group of friends when they decided to jump into the water and swim to the shore, none of them were wearing life jackets. Ryder went under and didn’t come back up.

His Pastor Adam Love says that he was wise beyond his years and will be missed.

This is unfortunately another death in Tennessee this year which has involved a person who was not wearing a life jacket. Matt Cameron with TWRA says drowning deaths from not wearing a personal floatation device are completely preventable and tragic.