DILLSBORO — Emergency workers located the body today of a former Western Carolina University student who drowned while tubing on the Tuckasegee River.

The victim was identified as Allen Brisson, 22, of Fayetteville.

Rescue crews were dispatched shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday after Brisson’s friends reported him missing in the water.“They saw him go under, and they never saw him surface again,” Richmond said.Brisson, who was floating on the river with the group of friends, was in an inflatable pool chair, Richmond said. He was not wearing a lifejacket, she said.

Concentrating on a three-mile stretch of the river just west of Dillsboro, crews suspended their search at 2 a.m. today and resumed at 8 a.m., Richmond said. About 70 people were involved in the search. A Mission Hospitals helicopter ambulance assisted in the search.