Three family members are killed and two remain missing after they plunged over North Carolina dam in tubing disaster with rescuers set to resume search this morning
- Three people have died after floating over a dam while tubing in North Carolina
- Happened when the nine family member's tubes came untied while on the river
- Two are missing following the accident at Duke Energy dam in Eden, Wednesday
- Four rescued late Thursday and taken to hospital for non life-threatening injuries
- Search efforts set to resume early on Friday morning, with held of local officials
Three people have died and two are missing after nine family members who were floating down a North Carolina river on inflatable tubes went over an eight-foot dam on Wednesday night.
Four people were pulled alive from the river after the alarm was raised on Thursday afternoon. They include a 14-year-old boy, his uncle, and two cousins.
Rescuers are set to resume search efforts this morning. Teams started to scour the stretch of river between the Duke Energy dam in Eden and the Virginia state border with two boats and are expecting an aircraft to aid efforts within the hour.
The young boy's mother told WGHP he was tired, but otherwise okay and was released from hospital on Thursday night. He was visiting his aunt and uncle when the accident happened.
Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates said the situation was called in to 911 by a Duke Energy employee who saw some of the tubers at the bottom of the dam around 3:15pm on Thursday afternoon.
Three people have died and two are missing after a group floated over the Duke Energy dam in Eden, North Carolina, on Wednesday evening
Four people were rescued earlier after they were found by Duke Energy workers 'hanging onto various items' around the dam at about 3:30pm
The group got into trouble when several of their round inflatable rafts came untied and some floated over the Duke Energy dam in Eden, North Carolina
The group got into trouble when several of their round inflatable rafts came untied. Each person was floating on their own tube when they went over the dam.
Rescue teams launched a search effort in the county north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line on Thursday night.
Personnel from Pittsylvania County and Danville were also involved in the efforts and helped recover three bodies.
Cates did not release the identities of the three people who died, but said: 'Though the outcome is tragic for these people that have been recovered, at least for their families, there's some closure. And our crews out here tonight have done an outstanding job'.
Four people were rescued earlier after they were found by Duke Energy workers 'hanging onto various items' around 3:30pm.
They were taken to a hospital for treatment of non life-threatening injuries. At least one, a 14-year-old boy, was later released.
Rescue teams launched a search effort in the county north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line on Thursday night (pictured, the Dan River in North Carolina)
Rescue teams launched a search effort in the county north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line on Thursday night
Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates said rescue teams were 'staying positive' about rescuing two people who are still missing
Cates said rescue teams were 'staying positive' about rescuing two people who are still missing.
'They'll be able to look at night, pick up heat images at night, in case they were able to get out of the river.
'We're going to stay positive that we can do a rescue rather than a recovery,' he said
'We have done both an air and water search at this time. We've had an aircraft that has flown the river.
'They flew 6 miles into Virginia, they came back widened their perimeter and flew the ground area adjacent to the river,' Cates added.
He said it was not immediately clear why the tubers did not contact authorities sooner, but he said it may have been because they didn't have phones with them.
He said it's not unusual for people to float the river on tubes or rafts in the area but most get out and walk around the dam, which is marked by signs.
He added a warning for anyone tubing on the water, asking people to be careful as there is a 'pretty steep drop' from the dam.
'Know where you are, know your surroundings have your safety vest your life vest, the inner tube may not always stay inflated and if the inner tube is not inflated you need some type of floatation device to secure you as you are coming on down the river,' he said.
Emergency Services Director Cates said it's not unusual for people to float the river on tubes or rafts in the area but most get out and walk around the dam, which is marked by signs (stock image)
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
