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Missouri teen drowns after falling off personal watercraft

CATAWISSA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old has died after he tumbled off a personal watercraft in eastern Missouri and drowned.

Emergency responders on the scene of the drowning -photo courtesy KSDK TV

The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as Scotty Copeland, of Catawissa. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket when he was ejected Wednesday from a Kawasaki Jet Ski at a water-filled quarry pit the Catawissa Conservation Area.

The patrol says he became fatigued and slipped under the water. Divers later recovered his body from the old gravel mining operation in the flood plain of the Meramec River.

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