Body Of New Tampa Man Recovered From S.C. River Coming Home

By Matt Wiley

Rescuers search the Chattooga River in South Carolina for missing New Tampa man Thomas Hill, who fell into the river during a rafting excursion June 19.
Rescuers search the Chattooga River in South Carolina for missing New Tampa man Thomas Hill, who fell into the river during a rafting excursion June 19.

The body of a New Tampa man has finally been recovered, following a whitewater rafting accident and 17-day search of the Chattooga Wild & Scenic River in South Carolina.

Thomas P. Hill, 51, a Hunter’s Green resident and a Sherwin-Williams Tampa district sales manager, fell out of a raft during a whitewater rafting trip on the Chattooga on June 19 in Oconee County near Long Creek, SC, which is located along the state’s border with Georgia. Hill had been in Helen, GA, to attend a Sherwin-Williams sales conference.

According to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Hill’s body was recovered around 11:30 a.m. on July 5, following more than two weeks of failed attempts to retrieve and return his body to his wife Linda and four children in New Tampa.Continue reading