Swimmer drowns after spine fracture in Nevis during annual festival

A 21-year-old man drowned on Lake Belle Taine over the weekend in Nevis, Minn., as the city hosted its annual Muskie Days festival.

Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes said in a news release that a call came in around 2:20 a.m. Saturday on a report of a drowning at the swimming beach. When deputies arrived, bystanders were performing CPR on the man later identified as Aiden Thompson of Nevis. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy found that Thompson died of a cervical spine fracture, and the sheriff’s investigation determined that a group was swimming on Belle Taine early that morning.

“As members of the group were getting out of the water, one of the swimmers jumped off the end of the dock and found Thompson [lying] face down in the water,” Aukes said in the release.