Items discovered during extensive search for missing boaters

Published 3:28 pm Friday, December 4, 2020

Emergency units are continuing their search on the Mississippi River for two boaters who were reported Thursday evening.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said searchers have recovered two items believed to have been in the pair’s boat and are now concentrating the search to an area between LeTourneau and Middle Ground Island.

Authorities began searching for the pair Thursday after relatives called the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks saying the pair put into the river at LeTourneau Thursday afternoon to go look at a duck hunting site near Davis Island. As of Friday morning, they had not returned or contacted family.

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Pace said authorities believe the pair, described as a teenager and a young adult, along with their dog, launched from LeTourneau sometime after lunch Thursday. Their names have not been released.

“We found their truck and trailer still at Letourneau landing,” Pace said Friday morning. “Fish and Wildlife and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office had boats in the water until after 2 a.m.”

He said the search resumed at daybreak, adding two duck hunters found a boat believed to be the one used by the pair adrift in the river near the Warren County/Claiborne County line.

“We have a robust presence from the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks, some have launched from LeTourneau, some have launched from Port Gibson,” Pace said. “We have sheriff’s office boats in the water, we have two planes in the air, one is a private plane owned by some people on Davis Island; and a plane that has a Madison Parish (La.) deputy in it.

“We also have deputies who are on Davis Island with our UTV, looking on the island in the chance they actually made it to the island, so we are searching by land, water and air,” he said.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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