Won Woo Choi pulled from Saluda river, pronounced dead from drowning
22-year old Won Woo Choi, a USC foreign exchange student who lived at 1321 Whaley Street, was pronounced dead from drowning Friday evening after river rescue crews pulled him out of the Saluda River near the Riverbanks Zoo.
Emergency responders were called to 500 Wildlife Parkway, where they found Choi with four friends. The group had apparently attempted to get to a rope swing on the opposite side of the river when Choi began to have difficulty crossing the water and went under, according to the report from Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. EMS arrived on the scene shortly after Choi was pulled to shore, performed CPR and transported the victim to the Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:52 PM.
Officials have not yet determined what country Choi was from or what he was studying at the University.