Shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, authorities were dispatched to the Flatrock River at Mill Race Park in Columbus in reference to a missing child.
Here are some statistics for the day:
All involved agencies searched diligently all Friday, but were ultimately unsuccessful in locating the missing 6 year-old.
The primary search area has been checked exhaustively with sonar units and divers.
Due to the water level and the strength of the current, dive and sonar operations are being suspended until the water conditions become more conducive to an underwater search, at which time it will resume.
Until then, we will continue with our surface search using bank and boat patrols, which will resume tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.
- Search time: > 13 hours (several hundred man-hours)
- Boats on the water: 5, including 3 DNR boats, a Lawrence County hovercraft, and a Bartholomew County airboat;
- Divers in the water: 8, including 4 DNR divers, 2 from ISP, and 2 from Bartholomew County;
- Sonar/R.O.V. units utilized: 2 sonar units, 1 R.O.V. (all DNR)
- Length of search area: the subsurface search focused on the area from the point of entry to approximately 300 yards downstream, utilizing sonar, video, and divers working from the bank and from boats working off of a static line. A search of the surface including both banks covered over a half mile.
- Other search methods:ISP conducted an aerial search utilizing a helicopter. Indiana Department of Homeland Security checked the banks utilizing search dogs.
The search was called off Thursday night due to dark conditions.
Initial investigation revealed the child was playing on a sandbar with family members, when he ventured into deeper water and was swept away.
Family members attempted to rescue the child, but efforts were unsuccessful.
