Side Scan called in down south

[Gary D.]

This is going to be a mess. The poor kids involved are going to have problems.

Police: 4 men feared drowned in Idaho reservoir - News Story - KXLY Spokane

4 Men Feared Drowned In Idaho Reservoir - KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho |



This one is unrelated.

Longview Boy Dies After Car Goes into Water - KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho |

Here's an update on our last one.

Man, 82, found dead in Lake Coeur d'Alene identified | KREM 2 News | KREM.com | When it Matters Most | Local News

 

[super7]

I really feel sorry for the kids.

The follow up on CNN website says all four have been found dead.

 

[Desert_Pirate]

I was on this call... coming back from kayaking in island park the call comes out possible drowning, diver support needed west boat ramp American Falls Resevoir. this was a multi county assist by this point..

When I arrived power county had been workin on the call for a couple hours. and I think the sheriff did an excelent job. after all four men went down, the boat drifted quite some time until the kids called 911 and reported the accident. Power county went out and gps the location of the boat and got the kids to safety. then began a surface grid search up wind from the boats cooridanats. during that search they found a life jacket believed to have been taken overboard by one of the victims and a leather hat floating that was believed to be on of the victims. They dropped bouyes on both locations and from that Decided that this is a probable course the boat traveled away from the drownings.

We put bouyes every so often and dropped them doing circle patterns and just started "eliminating bouyes" Conditions were typical august in SE idaho resevoir was 51 feet deep, 65 degrees and no visibility.. I could see my computer illuminate but could not read it. We were pre briefed that if we found a body to mark it with a pellican bouy and leave it on the bottom, because it was believed that all four bodies would be lying close togather and that would give us a more close proximity area to search for the other 3.

after a day and a half of searchin with no luck the Side scan unit from boise arrived and went to work. That is one nice peice of equipment!! its like watching a tv program of the bottom of the lake is what one marine deputy told us. they located all four bodies and bingham and power county divers went and bagged them and brought them to the surface.

Its a tragedy how four ppl having fun on a sunday afternoon can go so badly so quickly. 5 little kids watched as their family and loved ones drown and dissapear in a body of water and drift in horror, not knowing what to do. Several of my friends were friends with one of the four who drowned and alot of SE idaho is in shock over the incident. its sad but thank god the count stopped at four and all the kids stayed safe while they went on thier venture after the tragedy.. tryin to be optomistic about it

side note... this information is not via Bingham county, it is just what I saw and heard on the search.... for educational purpose only

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks, DP, for the info on how the search was conducted. I will relay this thread to my team leader for his files.

We have a side scan unit that we are starting to train with...2 sessions so far. I am glad y'all were able to use it to help assist with this terrible event.

 

[Tacman55]

Desert Pirate,

Do you know what type of side scan unit was used to locate the victims?

My unit has worked drowning cases with multiple victims but our deepest drowning victim recovery with more than one victim was 33ft. Off the top of my head I do not know another unit that has worked a multiple victim drowning in water deeper than your 51ft. that involved as many victims that wasn't the result of a collision or other incident.

Interested in knowing how far apart the victims were in 51 FFW and if there was any current.

Dive Safe,

JG

 

[sardiverdan]

Our unit had an incident much like this one three years ago. Three older guys out fishing, only one could swim and none of them are wearing any type of flotation. A storm came up and after a lightning strike close to the small craft, they rolled it over. It took us three days to locate them all mostly due to numerous last seen positions from people on the shore line. One floated almost into the shore, his down jacket kept him up for some time. He was a surface recovery. The others were found within a 40 foot radius from each other.

Article..
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
Third body recovered in boating accident
March 27, 2007 | By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer
Sheriff's Department divers Sunday located the body of the last of three fishermen who drowned when their boat capsized on Lake Henshaw during a storm. The county medical examiner identified the victim as Abe Holmes, 58, of Long Beach. Also killed were Herbert McQueen, 58, of Pasadena; and Thomas Meridieth, 63, of Glendora. The three were in a 12-foot boat attempting to cross the lake amid a fast-moving storm Thursday afternoon.

 

[robbf213]

Our agency uses the Humminbird 987 and 1187 extensively. It has dramatically reduced the time spent locating drowning victims and is a valuable tool. We did some training this year using dead wild hogs sunk for targets, worked very well.

 

[Gary D.]

I haven’t spoke with them about this search but my first guess would be Gene and Sandy with the Marine Sonic unit. It’s the same unit we have thanks to them.

It doesn’t matter how many victims you have if you run a good pattern. One or a hundred, it doesn’t matter. We have 1000’ capability which will handle most of our area.

 

[BladesRobinson]

Just confirming Gary's suspicions....
Gene and Sandy Ralston located the victims using a Marine Sonic SONAR system.

From Gene on Aug 9 ... "we are in American Falls, Idaho where we just found and helped recover four missing men."

 

[Desert_Pirate]

yes, sorry I am slow... Genes unit is the one that was used and until now I didnt know what it was.... and the bodies were found in 45 ft. The area I was cunducting patterns was 51. I was not completly clear on that