ROGERSVILLE – Two Athens teens were among those who tried unsuccessfully Sunday to save a Huntsville man who drowned at Joe Wheeler State Park, according to a story in the Florence Times Daily.

Rescue workers recovered the body of Valencia Flores, 24, at 3:37 p.m., said Alabama Marine Police Sgt. Kerry Bradford.

Tim Haney, superintendent at Joe Wheeler Park, said the drowning occurred at an area of the park known as the swimming beach.

“Some of the people here at the beach saw him struggling,” Haney said.

Those included Paul Blankenship and two 16-year-olds from Athens, Whitney Cottles and Wayne Dabney.

He said authorities received the call about the incident at 2:10 p.m.

“He was swimming with friends,” Bradford said, adding that the victim may have gotten a cramp and was unable to stay afloat.

They jumped in to try and save Flores but were unsuccessful.

“I grabbed for him but couldn’t get to him,” Blankenship said.

He said Flores had made it to a dock. “He grabbed the dock but he went down, almost like something dragged him under,” Blankenship said. “I don’t know why he couldn’t hold it.”

The trio, along with Bradley Carter, kept diving in an attempt to find him after he went under.

“We sank ourselves to the bottom, trying to find him,” Cottles said.

“I must have went down 20 to 25 times, but couldn’t get him,” Blankenship said.

They said there was very little visibility, so it would have been a matter of luck if they had found him in the murky water.

“I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face under the water,” Cottles said.

The teens were there with Dabney’s mother, Cheryl Coffman.

“We were just chilling and getting some sun when we heard some yelling,” said a tearful Cottles.

“It’s just a sad weekend at Joe Wheeler,” Dabney said. “I’m not sure if I’ll want to come here again for a while.”