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The Oconee County Coroner says a 62-year-old man from Maggie Valley died Saturday afternoon after falling from a boat while fishing.

The missing boater was reported Saturday afternoon at 6:11 p.m. 62-year-old Rodney Lyle Palmer's body was found and recovered by divers at 8:20 p.m. in the Tugaloo River section of Lake Hartwell near South Union.

The coroner says Palmer dropped his son and a friend off along the shoreline around 2:30 Saturday afternoon to go deer hunting. Palmer told his son he'd be fishing. Just after 5:30 p.m., the son and his friend saw the boat midway in the cove with no one on board.

We're told he most likely died between 3 and 5 p.m.

An autopsy will be ordered to assist with the death investigation. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is also inv

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