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Putnam angler dies in New River accident

July 05, 2009 @ 02:26 PM

TERRY, W.Va. (AP) — A National Park Service official says a fisherman has drowned in an Independence Day weekend accident on the New River.

Gary Hartley, chief ranger for the New River Gorge National River, says the 31-year-old Putnam County man apparently slipped while fishing and was swept away about 2 p.m. Saturday. His body was recovered about two hours later from a pool about 2 miles downstream from Terry and sent to the state medical examiner.

The name of the man has not been released. Hartley did not immediately respond to a phone message Sunday.

Hartley says campers who saw the man fall tried to throw him a rope and a cooler, but were unable to reach him.