Yahoo News 2 Teens, 1 Adult Remain Missing After Their Boat is Found in Dam Following Fishing Tournament
The search for three people, including two teenagers, who went missing on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee last week is continuing Tuesday morning, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) said in a statement.
Two 15-year-olds from the Obion County Central High School Fishing Team and one of their fathers, a 43 year-old-man, were competing in a fishing tournament on Saturday, Tim Watkins, a spokesperson for the Obion School District, told Fox affiliate WHBQ.
According to Watkins, the trio’s boat was allegedly having engine trouble at the start of the competition. They did not leave the dock with the rest of the competitors and officials initially believed they had taken the boat out of the water and went home.
All three were reported missing on Sunday evening around 9 p.m. after they did not return home from the tournament, authorities said, and officials later determined that they had attempted to compete despite their engine troubles.
On Monday morning, authorities found the group’s missing 20-foot bass boat on the Tennessee River sucked below a dam near Savannah, reportedly 14 miles from where they launched in Pickwick Lake, the statement said.
The missing boaters were not in the boat when it was found on Monday and officials had to suspend their search “at dusk due to hazardous water conditions,” the TWRA said. They resumed their search at 7:30 a.m. local time Tuesday morning.
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“Our crews searched Pickwick Lake last night and they started searching on the Tennessee River side,” Amy Spencer, from the TWRA, told WHBQ. “The search is very extensive. We have a large area that we are trying to cover.”
According to the TWRA, the Hardin County Fire Department, Sumner County EMA, Decatur County Rescue, Hardin County Sheriff’s Department, TVA Police, and Pickwick State Park staff have all been involved in the search.
Spencer told WHBQ that while authorities have had “a tremendous outpouring of people that want to help,” current water conditions are a risk, and she asked that volunteers “stand down and leave it to the professionals.”
