Local News
Dalton boaters still missing
Three of the five Dalton individuals whose boat was capsized Saturday night in the turbulent waters of the Tennessee River near Nickajack Lake Dam had still not been found as of Monday afternoon, officials on the scene said. The rescue mission has been changed to a recovery effort.
A man and boy who were also fishing from the boat when it was upended in the tailwaters of the dam were rescued uninjured. Brothers Hildebrando Hureta-Hernandez, 14, and Norberto Hureta-Hernandez, 26, were found by another fisherman about two miles downstream. A Marion County (Tenn.) 911 dispatcher said the call came in at 7:40 p.m. The fishing boat was found downstream in several sections, torn apart by the rough water.
Steve Lamb, director of the Marion County Emergency Services Agency, said similar accidents happen once every couple of years near the dam.
“The big fish are in the turbulent water (below the dam), and so people like to get close to the dam, cut off their motor and then drift down while they’re fishing,” he said. “But there’s a tipping point. If you let it (the hydraulic action) suck you in, and your motor won’t start, you’re in trouble.”
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) officer Mike Bailey said the boat got close to a concrete wall and the current from a flood gate being open actually pulled the boat upstream into the dam. Rescue squads, which are all volunteers, have been “scaled back” from their weekend numbers, he added.
“We’ll have a couple of (TWRA) officers on the river in the morning, and two more on an afternoon shift,” he said.
Lamb said there’s not much hope for the other three fishermen at this point.
“We focused on searching down river in the water and on the bank (that night),” he said. “We stopped around 3 a.m. because everyone was worn out, and started back about 7:30 Sunday morning. The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) police actually started a foot search at daylight. But about mid-day, based on a constant water temperature of 55 degrees and the fact that we had found no sign of survivors, it was obvious they had perished.”
“I’ve talked to the families involved, and told them there’s a possibility (the bodies) may never be found,” he said. “They could get hung up on an underwater structure — we’ve had that happen before.”
Lamb said, depending on the size of the body and the temperature of the water, it might be around six days before a body surfaces.
He said a more intense effort with a “large presence” will get under way this weekend when the bodies might surface and more volunteers will be able to take part. He added that family members do not understand why there are not more people at the boat ramps searching.
“We’re not doing anything differently,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to us who it is if there’s a family in need.”
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