Teenager from Texarkana, Arkansas, dies in drowning accident at Wright Patman Lake

TEXARKANA, Arkansas – A local teenager has died in a drowning accident in Wright-Patman Lake.

The body of 18-year-old Dorian Neal was recovered in 15 feet of water around 7 p.m. Thursday, said prison warden Shawn Hervey, spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service.

On Thursday at 5 p.m., Texas game wardens were dispatched because a drowning had been reported at Ramp 3.

Officers learned that Neal and four friends had jumped off a jetty. When Neal surfaced, he began to struggle and went underwater, prompting his friends to call 911, Hervey said.

The Bowie County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Liberty-Eylau Volunteer Fire Department and Corps of Engineers assisted in the search for Neal. His body will be sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy.

The last reported drowning at Wright Patman occurred on June 20, 2022.

Muhammad Usman Amjad, 31, of Dallas was reportedly riding a tandem jet ski when he fell into the water and panicked.

Amjad was not wearing a life jacket and could not swim. His body was discovered the next day about 8 feet underwater near where he had fallen into the water in the Rocky Point area of ​​the lake.