Found Deceased TN- 3 fishermen, (43 yr old & two 15 yr olds), Savannah, 22 Feb 2020

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Search for three fishermen suspended after boat found on Pickwick Lake



An empty bass boat believed to belong to three missing fishermen was found near Pickwick Dam Monday morning.

Three boaters, including two high school students, were reported missing Sunday, according to a report.


The missing boaters are reportedly members of the Obion County Central High School fishing team. The team was in Hardin County Saturday for a fishing tournament, Tennessee River Valley News reported.

Tim Watkins, Director of Schools for Obion County, told Tennessee River Valley News the three missing are two 15-year-old students and one of their fathers, 43, who chaperoned.

The boaters reportedly experienced engine trouble before the start of the competition and did not leave the dock with the rest of the competitors. According to Watkins, it was believed the team took the boat out of the water and went home, but it was later determined they attempted to compete.
The team's truck and trailer have reportedly been located.
 
Search for missing boaters on Pickwick Lake suspended for the night, officials say


FOX13 spoke to Tim Watkins of the Obion School District who said the missing boaters are reportedly team members of the Obion County Central High School Fishing team. The fishermen were in Hardin County on Saturday for a fishing tournament.

Two of them are students and the third is one of their fathers, a chaperone, Watkins said.

The boat was found below the dam at the Pickwick and looked to be sucked under the dam.
 
Search for missing boaters on Pickwick Lake suspended for the night, officials say


FOX13 learned from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency that the boat was found in the Tennessee River, 14-miles from where they launched.

The boat was sucked through the dam’s spillway and into the river below. The boaters were not in the boat when it was found.

The TWRA asked volunteers not to get involved in the search at this time.
 
Boat found near Savannah, but two young fishermen, adult still missing
upload_2020-2-24_22-16-33.jpeg


Search efforts continue Monday afternoon for a missing high school fishing team after their boat was found overturned on the Kentucky Lake side of Pickwick Dam this morning.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency spokeswoman Amy Snider-Spencer said the fishing team is believed to have put their boat in on the Pickwick Lake side of the dam and was last seen around 6:45 p.m. Saturday.
A TWRA agent found the overturned boat today between 8-8:30 a.m., in the vicinity of the Tennessee River bridge at Savannah.

To get to that downstream location, the boat had to either lock through the dam, trailer around the dam, or go through a floodgate at the dam.
 
Boat found near Savannah, but two young fishermen, adult still missing

Worth noting:
Watkins said the tournament was not intended as an overnight trip, and he and other school officials are “still trying to determine how they weren’t missed until so long after the trip, but the assumption was they had already left because of the engine trouble.”
He said one of the adult organizers on the trip notified him and authorities that the fishing team was missing.
 
Video at link shows spillway (dam).

Search underway for missing Tennessee fishing team members

The boat was discovered between 13 and 14 miles past the Pickwick Dam.

“It gives us location to intensify our search efforts,” said Amy Spencer with TWRA. “That means the boat went through the flood gates and had significant damage. It was recovered down around the Savannah bridge.”

The concern is whether the three missing boaters went through the dam with the boat, which is extremely dangerous.
 
Video at link shows spillway (dam).

Search underway for missing Tennessee fishing team members

The boat was discovered between 13 and 14 miles past the Pickwick Dam.

“It gives us location to intensify our search efforts,” said Amy Spencer with TWRA. “That means the boat went through the flood gates and had significant damage. It was recovered down around the Savannah bridge.”

The concern is whether the three missing boaters went through the dam with the boat, which is extremely dangerous.

RBBM

I was (unfortunately) thinking this, too.
 
Update: Water levels dropping on Tennessee River as search continues for missing boaters

COUNCE – Tuesday was the second official day of searching on the Tennessee River for three missing boaters from Obion County.

Snip

Tuesday’s search spread further downstream and included 35 teams and more than 100 volunteers searching about 75 miles of the river from Pickwick Dam to Paris and Kentucky Lake. Two helicopters – one each from Jackson Police Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol – also aided in the search from the sky.

Snip

Nothing was found Tuesday before the search was suspended for the night.

Snip

When the search does continue, TWRA said they will accept only established volunteers – those who’ve already been searching – and they have to check in with TWRA on Botel Road near the dam.
 
Search for Pickwick Lake boaters: Obion County worries for missing fishing team members


“This is definitely a small-town atmosphere, and everybody here is tied to everybody,” Watkins said.

“But I’ve already seen that these two young men are probably tied to everyone else in town. Either everyone knows them or someone in their family.”

“We’re having class and everything,” Watkins said. “We had counselors and local ministers available for anyone who wanted to talk to someone (on Monday), and those resources are still available (Tuesday).”

The missing boys — whose identities haven’t been published yet by family request — come from different towns.

The school hosted a prayer vigil Monday night.
 
Search for missing boaters continues in Hardin County, TWRA now focusing on river


The TWRA asked for only experienced boat operators from Obion County. It seems the Tennessee Valley Authority may also be helping with the search effort.

The authority has cut the discharge rate through Pickwick Dam back from 230,000 cubic feet per second to 180,000 cubic feet per second. This reduces the water flow rate downstream allowing crews to work in a less dangerous current.
 
Water, current makes search for missing boaters more difficult


TWRA told us that the floodgates where Pickwick Lake dumps into the Tennessee River cannot be closed due to the level that the floodwater is at.

“Because of the rain,” said Amy Spencer, TWRA. “How many inches have we had here in the last month in west Tennessee? We can’t close the gates. It is going to flood on the other side.”

TWRA told us this weekend, the water moved through the dam at 225,000 cubic feet per second.
It has dropped to 184,000 cubic feet per second because the water has come down.
That should help the search.
There is a lot of current on the lake right now they have had 19 gates open even as far as up 6-miles up that river there is a lot of current and debris coming down there is logs,” Matlock said.

The TVA dam is marked by warning signs, and flashing warning lights when the flood gates are open.
 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The search for three missing fishermen around Pickwick Dam will get underway for a third, consecutive day.

As of Wednesday, this effort is now shifting from a rescue to a recovery effort. Crews say they’re searching a stretch of the Tennessee River below the Pickwick Dam.

Search for missing fishermen at Pickwick Dam enters day 3
 

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