The official search for a 20-year-old man who is missing after a Monday morning water emergency on the Ohio River has been suspended for the night and will resume around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“We had about eight different spots that we thought we had something SONAR, but we drug and came up empty. We’ll try again tomorrow, “ said Owensboro Fire Department Battalion Chief Richard Peach.
While the first response agencies are stopping their search for the day, Peach said they expect the family and others to conduct their own searches through the night. He said they are welcome to do so, but they should use caution if they do find a body.
“If the young man does surface, we ask that they keep him where they find him and mark the point for us,” Peach said. “That’s important for the guys that are going to do the reports so they can know exactly where he surfaced in conjunction with where he went under.”
According to reports, the incident occurred just before 2 a.m. Monday when a boat carrying five individuals began taking on water. Four individuals were able to swim safely to shore while the fifth is unaccounted for.
Peach said the incident happened near the Owensboro Convention Center. The boat, which was only partially submerged, was found around 5:30 a.m. near Owensboro Riverport Authority.
Peach said the search radius for the man began near the Convention Center and stretched south for roughly two blocks, and they began near the bank and worked their way out.
“At this point, in the time frame — and this is typical, this is coming from the divers and rue water rescue team in Henderson who do this on a regular basis — typically they say that the body won’t move more than 100 yards from where it submerged,” Peach said. “We’ve been concentrating in that box all day. We actually got outside of it a little bit because we exhausted that box so we went ahead and spread out, but we still came up empty today.”
If the body is not found by the time their search resumes, Peach said they’ll continue to look further south on Tuesday.
Just before noon Monday, the water emergency became a recovery mission after four hours of no results from a search and rescue.
The incident is being investigated by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Officials with their department were unable to comment on the investigation but said they were proud of the agencies involved and hope the body turns up soon for the sake of the family.
“I think it was a valiant effort and everybody did a very good job attempting to do the best they could,” said Officer Jeff Whittinghill. “We had a little prayer for the group coming out tonight. We kind of blessed the whole thing in hopes that we don’t have to come out here again.”
Also assisting were Daviess County’s Fire Department, Emergency Management Agency and Sheriff’s Office; Owensboro Police Department; Henderson Fire Department; and American Red Cross.
