LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. (AP) - Authorities say a 21-year-old college student has drowned while spending the day with friends on an island in the Mohawk River in central New York.
The Little Falls Police Department says the group was near the Erie Canal’s Lock 17 on the river Sunday afternoon when Michael Flowers of Amsterdam and another man decided to swim across to the other shore in Little Falls, 65 miles east of Syracuse.
Witnesses told police Flowers became tired and was about 20 feet from shore when he went under. The other man tried to rescue him but was unsuccessful.
Divers found his body three hours later at the bottom of the river in about 35 feet of water.
Officials say alcohol or drugs weren’t involved.
Flowers was a first-year transfer student at nearby Herkimer County Community College.
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