Local drownings claim 2 victims in less than 24 hours

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Drownings have claimed two lives in less than 24 hours in the CSRA – a 4-year-old boy in Burke County and a 49-year-old man in Augusta.

The 4-year-old boy died after being found unresponsive in a pool at a Burke County home on Tuesday. He’d just started taking swimming lessons the day before, according to his mom.

Also on Tuesday, Anthony Mack, 49, of Claxton, was declared dead three days after being pulled from the pool at an Augusta apartment complex at at 1671 Goshen Road.

Coroner Mark Bowen said that after being pulled from the pool at the Element at Goshen complex, Mack was taken to Augusta University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead Tuesday. No autopsy will be done, Bowen said.

The 4-year-old boy’s death was announced Wednesday, a day after he was found unresponsive in a pool at a home on Deer Run Road, according to the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday, they learned the boy had been taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Despite efforts to save his life, he didn’t survive.

Although the Burke County Coroner’s Office hasn’t officially released the boy’s name, his mother has posted about the death on Facebook with numerous photos of the boy.

In a Facebook post, Dori Scott said he’d just started swimming lessons Monday.

In another post, she wrote:

“My heart has been ripped out of my chest! I can’t believe that I will never see my baby boy again. Cherish every moment with your babies and hug them tight because you never know. I would have never imagined that I would only get 4 years with my little man. My life will never be the same.”

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