CHAFFEE TEEN DROWNS AFTER JUMPING OFF RAILROAD BRIDGE

ALLENVILLE -- James O. Schrum, 17, of Chaffee drowned Sunday after jumping into the flood-swollen Diversion Channel from the Allenville railroad bridge.

Schrum was with a group of Chaffee teenagers who intended to swim in the channel, when he jumped from the west side of the bridge at about 6:55 p.m. and disappeared in the muddy floodwater.

Two officers of the Missouri Department of Public Safety's Water Patrol pulled Schrum's lifeless body out of the water about five hours later.

Cape County Coroner John Carpenter declared Schrum's death accidental when he pronounced him dead at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Cape County Sheriff's Department was notified by Schrum's friends shortly after the teen disappeared in the channel. The department called the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Delta Fire Department and the water patrol for assistance in the case.

"They launched several boats equipped with search lights into the channel from the levee," said Chief Deputy Leonard Hines of the Cape County Sheriff's Department. "The body was located through the use of dragging equipment, not far from the spot where witnesses last saw him."

No one else was injured in the incident.