Boating accident leaves man severely injured
By Elizabeth Billips lizbillips@yahoo.com

An annual river trip had a terrible ending when a passenger was thrown overboard and hit by a boat propeller.

Cale Odom, 35, was airlifted to MCGHealth Sunday afternoon after the boat he was riding in struck bottom on a shallow section of the Savannah River near Sylvania.

According to Cpl. Shaymus McNeely of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Odom was ejected from the bow on impact, then hit by the propeller as the boat swung around. Both legs were cut, he said, and the left was nearly severed just below the knee.

Cpl. McNeely said Odom was one of seven passengers on a 23-foot boat being operated by Manuel McWhorter of Waynesboro.

They, along with hundreds of other boaters, were returning from an annual trek to Savannah. When Odom was injured, they were on a wide section of the river near Poor Robin Landing in Screven County.

"It's fortunate they were so close to the landing," Cpl. McNeely said. "If they'd been upriver, he could have very easily bled out and died."

As it was, three passengers jumped overboard and dragged Odom to the landing where two mothers were sunbathing while their children played.

According to DNR rangers, the women, who were CPR and First Response trained, wrapped Odom's legs with wet beach towels and applied pressure until EMTs arrived.

Odom has since undergone two surgeries to save his legs.

While the outcome is still not known, his condition was upgraded to fair on Tuesday afternoon.

In the meantime, DNR rangers continue to investigate the accident. They say McWhorter has not been charged but that blood tests for drugs and alcohol were taken, as is routine for any boating accident with serious injuries.

Cpl. McNeely said that while speed may have contributed to the accident, low water levels are to blame.

The day prior, another large boat that was part of the Burke County-based convoy was taken out of commission when it struck a submerged stump and suffered about $10,000 in damages.

"The river is very low, and it's hazardous right now," Cpl. McNeely said, noting that dangers are amplified for those traveling large, heavy boats as Odom was. "There are logs in the middle of the river and obstructions everywhere."