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RED CREEK - The body of a 21-year-old college student from Ohio who had been reported missing Sunday has been found in Tucker County.
According to a Wednesday afternoon press release from the West Virginia State Police, troopers located the body of Thomas Donnelly, 21, a University of Cincinnati student, on Monday, after he had been reported missing Sunday morning.
Donnelly was hiking in the area of the Red Creek Trail and Fisher Springs Trail, when Tucker County 911 notified the West Virginia Natural Resources Police of a missing hiker on Sunday, police said. State Trooper D. M. Tate responded to assist with search and rescue efforts, along with members of the Harman Volunteer Fire Department.
Donnelly was part of an eight-member group from the University of Cincinnati Mountaineering Club that had been hiking and camping in the area since Oct. 9. The group was trying to cross South Red Creek near its confluence with Fisher Springs Run and encountered elevated water levels and swift currents that were caused by heavy rainfall, police said.
While trying to cross, Donnelly lost his footing and was swept downstream, the release states. Initial efforts to locate the hiker were unsuccessful, and search operations were suspended due to weather conditions and diminishing daylight.
Search efforts resumed on Monday. Troopers found Donnelly’s body at about 2 p.m., after which his next of kin was notified of the incident and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance by the West Virginia State Police.