AREA MAN DIES FROM SWIMMING ACCIDENT

A 32-year-old Jackson, Mo., man died from drowning Monday after a swimming accident over the weekend at Trail of Tears State Park, authorities said.

Joe Noble Jr. was swimming at Lake Boutin in the park on Sunday with a group of friends when he swam outside of a roped area and disappeared under water for almost 10 minutes, said Ron Burgett Jr., park ranger.

Witnesses had seen Noble go down and come back up out of the water yelling but did not realize until later he was in danger, said Jim Hanks, fire chief for the East County Fire District.

"You get in a big group like that and it's hard to tell," Hanks said.

A friend of Noble's had pulled him from the water by the time Burgett and Brian Towe, a seasonal maintenance worker, arrived on the scene around noon. They began using cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive Noble.

When Hanks and other firefighters arrived within three minutes, Noble was not breathing and did not have a pulse, the fire chief said.

Firefighters gave Noble oxygen, and a weak pulse returned, Hanks said.

An ambulance arrived five minutes later and took Noble to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Noble died Monday afternoon at the hospital, said John Clifton, Cape Girardeau County deputy coroner.

Although Burgett would not say whether the accident was suspicious, he said the incident is being investigated.

It is possible an asthma attack suffered by Noble contributed to the man's death, Hanks said.

Burgett, a scuba diver, performs regular searches of the swimming area to make sure underwater obstructions are removed. He made his last search on Friday.

Burgett only searches for obstructions in the designated swimming area, he said.

Until 1996, the lake did not have a designated swimming area. Lifeguards do not monitor the beach area, so park officials encourage swimmers to have partners for safety.

Only two other people have drowned in Lake Boutin in the past 10 years. A 27-year-old man died in 1994 after saving a 5-year-old girl, and a 23-year-old man died in 1996 when he was playing in the water with his girlfriend.