Yolanda Cogswell says she witnessed a tragedy Thursday evening when a 14-year old boy tried to swim across the lake in Sherando Park, but never made it to the other side.

"The kids, they were' playing on the side of the lake and 2 kids jumped in, and one went back because he said the water was too cold, and the other just kept on swimming, and he was almost on the other side when he went in," Cogswell said.

Sadly, this story is an all-too-common one.

Recently, there have been multiple deaths in natural waterways. In April, 11-year old Jorge Castro was swimming with his dad when he went under.

Warren County Fire and Rescue Captain Raymond Cross says to be safe, you need to be physically ready for the water.

"Long distance swimmers start out training in pools," Cross said. "Then they move up to lakes and shore-to-shore, and in long distance swimming, you have train your body. A swim is a full body physical workout; and I don't think a lot of people take that into consideration."

Cross says by training in a pool, Swimmers get accustomed to the pressures of moving water, Making the transition into a natural waterway easier.

"Moving water is always tricky because it adds that force to your body," He said. "A 7mph current will put about 400lbs psi against your body, so now you're trying to fight that as well."

This may or may not have been a factor in Thursday's drowning. Our cameras caught ripples in the water while the rescue teams searched for the boy shortly before 6 Thursday evening.

Cross says his crew is ready for any water rescue; but, he adds more water rescue calls involving swimmers end in tragedy than a happy reunion.

"Depending on the situation," Cross said, "when they went under, if they're still submerged; finding them alive in most of the access for us is slim."

Cross says nationally, there will be hundreds of drownings involving swimmers. He says most of these could have been prevented.