Authorities have recovered the body of a Camden man who drowned in the Ouachita River this week.
Ouachita County Sheriff David Norwood says 47-year-old Robert Bates was fishing with a friend Tuesday morning near the Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corp. power plant.
Norwood tells the Camden News that the men were having mechanical problems with their boat, and Bates fell in the water as the watercraft was being towed.
Camden police say Bates did not know how to swim and was not wearing a life jacket. Norwood says Bates was taken under by the current when the boat was about 10 feet away.
Bates' body was recovered by emergency responders later Tuesday.