Oak Ridge Today

Rescuers tried to save unresponsive student, cause of death unknown

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

The third-grade student who died Tuesday had appeared to be asleep on a school bus, officials said Wednesday.

But other students were unable to awake him at a bus stop on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. The bus driver parked the bus and went back to check on the boy, but she was unable to wake him or get him to respond, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

She called 911. A dispatcher gave the bus driver instructions to care for the boy until rescuers arrived, Kerley said.

Firefighters responded within two minutes. The bus stop is behind a fire station on Tuskegee Avenue. The boy was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. [Read more…]

Pickup pulled from park, one of half-dozen vehicles found in Clinch River

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Melton Lake Park Pickup Truck

Authorities pull a Ford Ranger pickup truck from the Clinch River at Melton Lake Park on Tuesday morning, one of a half-dozen or so vehicles recently found in the water.

Authorities pulled a submerged pickup truck out of a cove used by rowers at Melton Lake Park on Tuesday morning, one of a half-dozen or so vehicles recently found in the Clinch River.

The pickup truck appeared to be a dark-colored mid-1980s Ford Ranger. It was coated in what appeared to be brown slime.

It wasn’t immediately clear what, if anything, was found inside.

Authorities have said little about the vehicles or the search for them, including how long the automobiles have been in the water, how they got there, or why officers are searching the Clinch River.

“We’ve got a pending investigation taking place, and we’re just not making any comment,” Oak Ridge Police Capt. Mike Uher said.

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Authorities pull bus from Clinch River, dive team continues search

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Bus in Melton Hill Lake

A tow truck pulls a bus from the Clinch River Monday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Austin Reed via Brad Jones)

A submerged bus was pulled out of the Clinch River near Pellissippi Parkway on Monday afternoon, but no one was on board, Oak Ridge Police Chief James T. Akagi said Tuesday.

Authorities, including an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department dive team, continued to search the water near Solway Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday evening.

Akagi declined to release more details or comment on why the dive team was still there. He said he wasn’t able to answer some questions, such as how long the bus had been there, how it got there, or how authorities learned it was in the water.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Anderson County Sheriff's Department Dive Team

An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department dive team searches the Clinch River near Solway Park early Tuesday evening after a bus was pulled from the water on Monday afternoon.