A tragic accident occurred on a Tennessee trail near Chattanooga when two hikers, a woman and a man, drowned after the woman fell into a creek and the man jumped in to attempt a rescue. The pair were hiking along Rainbow Lake Trail last Sunday when the incident unfolded. The Signal Mountain fire and police departments were alerted to the situation on Sunday evening with reports of two individuals submerged underwater, as mentioned by WVLT.

According to witnesses a woman hiker had been attempting to cross the creek when she slipped and fell into the rushing waters, a companion, a man, immediately plunged in after her in a rescue effort; both tragically did not resurface. Rescue teams made the one-mile trek down the trail where they encountered a female hiker who was hiking with the victims, she testified to the chilling sequence of events leading up to the accident, as described by WVLT. Efforts to revive the female hiker, upon her retrieval, were sadly unsuccessful and the male hiker's body was located later.

Authorities have identified the victims as 23-year-old Greffania Merilus, originally from Cohutta, Georgia, and 20-year-old Gullson Elve from Birchwood, Tennessee. This information came to light following a report by News Channel 9 in Tennessee.

The Signal Mountain Police Department responded to the emergency call at approximately 7:13 p.m., after the 911 report about the hikers' distress; they hastened down the Rainbow Lake Trail, where they were greeted by the waiting hiker, who had been part of the ill-fated group as recounted by Fox News. The tragic event serves as a sobering reminder of the unpredictability of nature and the inherent risks that come with outdoor adventures.