COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — Local law enforcement and the Alabama Marine Patrol worked all weekend to find a 63-year-old man who went missing after a boating accident.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said one man remains missing after a marine-related incident at around 11:04 a.m. Saturday. Officials said that a 63-year-old man identified as Daniel E. Hamm of Florence, and his 13-year-old grandson were tossed from their boat after an accident.
The Colbert County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the marine patrol said on Monday during a press conference that the search is now a recovery mission.
Corporal Robert Ping with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says the weather is much better than it has been over the last couple of days, so they’re going to take full advantage of that.
Authorities said they’ll be patrolling a large part of the Tennessee River using sonar and will continue checking shorelines as well. There are about 8 different agencies all collaborating on this effort.
Once they find any promising signs, they’ll deploy the dive team to survey the area.
Search efforts began Saturday and the grandson has been found and is safely back with his family, but Hamm has not yet been found.
Around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, rescue personnel resumed their search for Hamm. Despite the weather, they were able to send out boats in hopes of finding him.
The searchers included ALEA, Colbert County Sheriff’s Office. Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office and several other local agencies.
Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine says they’re working round the clock to find him.
“Well the inclement weather makes it hard because the divers aren’t going to get in the water if need be with it raining really hard,” He said, “and it’s hard to get out in the water in the vessels with the spillways open. So it makes it really difficult and we don’t want to put them in any more danger than they are already in … were going to be working round the clock until this recovery is made”