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Crews to continue search for missing fishermen in Kankakee River Friday morning
The search for two fishermen who went into the Kankakee River has been put on hold. The search was called off Thursday and is now being called a recovery.
KANKAKEE - The search for two fishermen who went into the Kankakee River has been put on hold. The search was called off Thursday and is now being called a recovery.
FOX 32 talked to two people who were fishing off the bank of the river and saw the whole thing happen in front of them.
“The boat just flipped and we couldn't save them,” said Anthony Berry.
Berry and Carmen Thomas were fishing just after 2 p.m. when they say two nearby boaters tried to drop their anchor in a very treacherous location, just feet away from the foot of the Kankakee River dam.
“The anchor wasn't long enough to hit the bottom and it got caught up in the propeller, and he cut the rope and then the boat got out of control and it tipped over,” Thomas said.
After the boat flipped, they say the two men floated for a few feet before going under and never resurfacing.
“They had life jackets in the boat, they didn't use the life-jackets,” the witnesses said.
“Always wear life jackets. We don't know if the two victims had life jackets at this point, but if they didn't, we just want to encourage everyone at this point to wear life jackets.” Said Kankakee Fire Chief Damon Schuldt.
The witnesses say one victim looked to be in his 30s, while the other was in his late 50s and a regular fisherman at this spot.
“He was a good guy. Liked to fish. He liked to come down here and fish with us,” Thomas said.
About five search boats scoured the entire width of the river for about six hours, up to a half mile away from where they went under.
“We did search for quite a while and we are in a recovery mode at this point,” Schuldt said.
Search and Rescue used a variety of different search boats in this effort, including one equipped with sonar. They called off the search at sundown and will pick back up Friday morning.