Wasco County deputies have recovered the body of 19-year-old James Hawkins of Eugene man who went missing yesterday while swimming in the Columbia, a half-mile west of The Dalles Dam.
According to a report from the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received a call around 5:30 yesterday afternoon regarding a swimmer in distress. The man’s friends told deputies that he swam from the Oregon side to a small island near the base of The Dalles Bridge. While swimming back to the Oregon side, the swift current pulled him under, and he was last seen approximately 150 years west of the bridge.
The recovery was made with the help of the Skamania County Dive Team just west of Water’s Edge.
