Hardin County, Tenn. — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has suspended search and recovery operations on the Tennessee River near Pickwick Dam for Thursday. The search for the three missing boaters from Obion County will resume Friday morning. TWRA is now concentrating the search on a 14-mile stretch of the Tennessee River.
Twenty boats and 50 volunteers searched 50 miles of the Tennessee River on Thursday. Units conducted surface and sonar scans in attempts to locate the missing boaters.
Over the last four days, TWRA, Hardin County Fire Department, Sumner County EMA, Decatur County Rescue, Hardin County Sheriff’s Department, Henry County Rescue, Henderson County Rescue, and EMA, Lake County Sheriff, Humphreys County Sheriff, Carroll County Rescue, Chester County Rescue, Samburg Fire Department, Obion County Rescue, Fayette County Sheriff’s, TEMA, TVA Police, and Pickwick State Park staff, Jackson Police Department Aviation Unit, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol Helicopter have assisted with searching for the missing boaters on the Tennessee River near Pickwick Dam.
The preliminary investigation indicates that the Stratos boat containing 43-year old Kenneth Driver and two 15-year-old boys was last seen in a picture taken above the dam on Saturday, Feb. 22, between 8 and 8:30 a.m. The three occupants and the 20-foot bass boat went through the floodgates at Pickwick Dam. Search efforts are concentrated on a 14 mile stretch the Tennessee River for the missing boaters. The three persons were reported missing after the fishermen failed to return from an Obion County club bass tournament.