Teen dies after car drives into water at Lake Cumberland

RUSSELL COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – A southern Kentucky teenager is dead after drowning at Lake Cumberland.

Police say 17-year-old Cameron Powell, who had recently graduated from Pulaski County High School, was in a car that plunged into the lake in Russell County Friday night.

We are told that some friends were going to a get-together, but when they left, they got disoriented and went the wrong way down Clifty Creek Road, which ends in the water.

“According to the gentleman driving the car, they took a wrong turn out of the driveway they had pulled out of,” said Sgt. Wayne Wilson with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

People who live in the area say there’s no signage that indicates the water and when it’s dark, it would be hard to see water at the bottom of the hill.

This isn’t the first time authorities were called to a drowning in that part of Lake Cumberland. Several years ago, another teenager died when swimming without a life jacket.

“That is a popular place for teenagers to go to and swim. Unfortunately, he said he was going to swim to the other side. He made it about halfway, cramped up and went down,” said Wilson.

Police believe, at this point, Powell’s death was simply a terrible tragic accident. We are told that Powell’s body was sent to Frankfort for an autopsy. The preliminary report was that the cause of death was drowning.

Somerset Undertaking is handling Powell’s funeral arrangements.

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