College-bound teenager drowns to death in South Carolina lake, coroner says
A recent high school graduate died Wednesday after drowning in a Midlands lake, the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office said.
Gabriel Clyburn, an 18-year-old Lancaster County resident, was identified as the victim, Coroner David West said Thursday in a news release.
Clyburn was swimming with friends in a part of Lake Wateree that’s in the Liberty Hill area by Singleton Creek Road, according to the release.
At one point, Clyburn went under and Kershaw County 911 received an emergency call at about 5 p.m., the coroner’s office said.
Members of the Kershaw County Rescue Squad Dive Team recovered Clyburn’s body, according to the release.
Information about where in the lake Clyburn was recovered, and how long the teen had been in the water, was not available.
Clyburn had recently graduated from Andrew Jackson High School and was going to attend Coastal Carolina University this fall, according to West.
This is at least the second drowning death in Lake Wateree this month.
On July 1, a 25-year-old Great Falls man was fishing with family in a portion of Lake Wateree in Ridgeway when he went into the lake to retrieve fishing equipment and went under, the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office said. He drowned and died, according to the Fairfield County coroner.
There have also been at least the five other water deaths in the Midlands in the previous two months.
Also in Lake Wateree on June 18, a 37-year-old man was swimming with family when he disappeared under water for more than an hour and died, the coroner’s office said.
On June 13, a 67-year-old South Carolina man’s body was recovered in the Newberry County portion of Lake Murray, according to the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office.
On June 10, a 13-year-old was pulled from Kendall Lake in Camden and later died after being flown to Prisma Health Richland, the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office said.
On May 5, a 15-year-old Camden High School student died following a boating accident while fishing on the Wateree River, according to the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office.
