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Benton County (Ark.) Sheriff’s deputies suspended the search for a missing Pittsburg teen late Saturday night at Beaver Lake.
Benton County Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Gay, public information officer and dive team coordinator, said that divers had been searching since around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon after it was reported that the teen jumped into water and never resurfaced.
"He said he was hot and he was going to jump in," Gay said. "He never resurfaced."
Gay could not confirm the identity of the missing teen.
The teen was at Beaver Lake with an unknown number of others tubing on the lake, according to Gay.
Darkness forced law enforcement to call off the search at around 8 p.m. Saturday.
Gay said that the area where the teen reportedly went missing was an area called Ventris Hollow on the lake. Depths in that area are in excess of 100 feet in some spots, which is a cause for concern for divers conducting the search.
"We have a broad, general area and the water depth in the area is in excess of 100 feet in some spots," Gay said. "We need to have a pretty precise location before we can put divers in the water."
Because of the depths, divers will only be able to make limited timed dives and each diver will only be able to dive once during the day due to the deep waters.
Gay said that the search would resume early this morning. In addition, he said that Benton County has contacted surrounding counties in Arkansas as well as the Newton County (Mo.) dive team out of Joplin for mutual aid assistance. He said that law enforcement will use high-powered sonar equipment to probe the area where it is believed the teen was last seen.
"We are going to have to have a lot of manpower to do this and we are in the process of doing that right now," Gay said. "We have contacted Missouri and other areas for mutual aid to see if we can't find this young man."
Gay said that deputies were informed of the incident after receiving a call at 1:15 p.m. Saturday. He said that the dive team was able to respond quickly because they were at the lake conducting a training exercise.
The search started with a sonar search of the area where it was reported that the teen jumped in.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 139
Benton County (Ark.) Sheriff’s deputies suspended the search for a missing Pittsburg teen late Saturday night at Beaver Lake.
Benton County Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Gay, public information officer and dive team coordinator, said that divers had been searching since around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon after it was reported that the teen jumped into water and never resurfaced.
"He said he was hot and he was going to jump in," Gay said. "He never resurfaced."
Gay could not confirm the identity of the missing teen.
The teen was at Beaver Lake with an unknown number of others tubing on the lake, according to Gay.
Darkness forced law enforcement to call off the search at around 8 p.m. Saturday.
Gay said that the area where the teen reportedly went missing was an area called Ventris Hollow on the lake. Depths in that area are in excess of 100 feet in some spots, which is a cause for concern for divers conducting the search.
"We have a broad, general area and the water depth in the area is in excess of 100 feet in some spots," Gay said. "We need to have a pretty precise location before we can put divers in the water."
Because of the depths, divers will only be able to make limited timed dives and each diver will only be able to dive once during the day due to the deep waters.
Gay said that the search would resume early this morning. In addition, he said that Benton County has contacted surrounding counties in Arkansas as well as the Newton County (Mo.) dive team out of Joplin for mutual aid assistance. He said that law enforcement will use high-powered sonar equipment to probe the area where it is believed the teen was last seen.
"We are going to have to have a lot of manpower to do this and we are in the process of doing that right now," Gay said. "We have contacted Missouri and other areas for mutual aid to see if we can't find this young man."
Gay said that deputies were informed of the incident after receiving a call at 1:15 p.m. Saturday. He said that the dive team was able to respond quickly because they were at the lake conducting a training exercise.
The search started with a sonar search of the area where it was reported that the teen jumped in.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 139
