Search For Missing Deckhand Will Resume Tuesday Morning

A member of the team searching the Ohio River for a missing barge deckhand reported seeing a man-sized object floating in the Ohio River south of the search area, but recovery teams were unable to find the object.

"We don't know if it's the same individual or somebody else," said Hancock County Sheriff Mike White. "It's possible it could be the same individual."

Investigators have not released the man's name, saying only that he's an African-American in his twenties and that he worked for a barge company.

He was wearing a life jacket when he fell into the Ohio River, White said, but the jacket fell off when the man hit the water.

The search area initially focused on an approximately 3,500-foot-long section of the Ohio River between the W. H. Sammis Power Plant and the New Cumberland Lock and Dam.

The man fell from the barge shortly after 2:30 p.m. Monday as it delivered a load of coal to the plant, which is owned by FirstEnergy.

"The individual was seen going under water and that's the last he was seen," White said.

Several small privately-owned boats joined a flotilla of nearby towboats in the search.

A medical helicopter assisted.

By 7:30 p.m., White said weather conditions had deteriorated and he suspended the recovery effort. Snow was still falling and reducing visibility and the river was running swiftly and was increasingly choppy.

White notified the staff at the New Cumberland Locks and Dam to keep an eye on the river in case the man's body had become trapped in their facility.

White admitted that, as time passes, the chances of recovering the man's body locally diminish.

"The longer it takes us to find him, the more the chance is that the body will move on downstream," White said.

The search will resume Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.

Previous Stories: April 6, 2009: Crews Searching For Man In Ohio River