MARCH 28, 2015
ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LOUISIANA (WVUE)
Firefighters with St. Tammany Fire District #9 along with
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents are investigating a boating accident
involving two adults and three children. The incident occurred Saturday at 5:29
p.m. on the Pearl River Canal near Bush.
A St. Tammany Fire official says the ages of the children
are: 5, 6 and 8. All three children were wearing their life preservers at the
time of the incident.
Officials say that a 16-year-old boy who was fishing in the
area at the time of the accident immediately jumped in and saved two of the
children. He then grabbed the t-shirt of the woman who was holding onto the third
child, before the woman and child were taken away by a current. The child was
found alive underneath the overturned boat a short time later.
Wildlife and Fishery crews continue to search for the
missing man and woman. The children were brought to a local hospital as a
precaution.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
//---------------------------//
BUSH, LOUISIANA
Rescue crews are continuing their search for 31-year-old Jonie Morgan. Saturday evening the 14-foot boat she was on with 41-year-old Terry O'Keefe and her three children capsized in the Pearl River.
"All I can figure, she got to close to the waterfall and it sucked her right down," said 16-year-old Leyton Page.
Page said he forgot his hunting gear at his camp site, which forced him to go back. That's when he ran into the accident scene of the capsized boat and jumped into action.
"I didn't think anything of it. I was just going to help them pull it out, but as I got closer I saw there was three heads sticking out and one body already rolling around, caught in the current," Page said.
As Page attempted to help the family, he also capsized.
"I got under that waterfall and it sucked me straight down," he said. "Luckily I found a rope to my boat and pulled myself back up, and I made sure I kept the boat between me and the seal so I didn't get sucked back down. I held onto it with one hand and paddled over to them, and the two boys, they climbed on my shoulders and I was holding on to them."
But as Page turned to flagged down help, he "turned back around, and the woman was gone."
Page was able to save the 8- and 6-year-old boys. Thirty minutes later, rescue crews found the 4-year-old girl alive under the boat.
"That was awesome. You don't see kids do that these day, sacrifice themselves for somebody else. You don't really see that much," said Brennan Estopinal, the father of one of the boys involved in the accident.
The body of O'Keefe was found shortly after 8 a.m. As the search continues for Jonie Morgan, rescue crews say to search under water in the area is very difficult.
"It's a hazardous water environment. It's a low head dam," said Lt. Jason Russo of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "Water runs over the dam, so the water immediately behind it is very turbulent, treacherous waters. It's a leading contributing factor to the accident itself as they went over it."
Source:http://www.wwltv.com
//---------------------------//
BUSH, LOUISIANA
Rescue crews are continuing their search for 31-year-old Jonie Morgan. Saturday evening the 14-foot boat she was on with 41-year-old Terry O'Keefe and her three children capsized in the Pearl River.
"All I can figure, she got to close to the waterfall and it sucked her right down," said 16-year-old Leyton Page.
Page said he forgot his hunting gear at his camp site, which forced him to go back. That's when he ran into the accident scene of the capsized boat and jumped into action.
"I didn't think anything of it. I was just going to help them pull it out, but as I got closer I saw there was three heads sticking out and one body already rolling around, caught in the current," Page said.
As Page attempted to help the family, he also capsized.
"I got under that waterfall and it sucked me straight down," he said. "Luckily I found a rope to my boat and pulled myself back up, and I made sure I kept the boat between me and the seal so I didn't get sucked back down. I held onto it with one hand and paddled over to them, and the two boys, they climbed on my shoulders and I was holding on to them."
But as Page turned to flagged down help, he "turned back around, and the woman was gone."
Page was able to save the 8- and 6-year-old boys. Thirty minutes later, rescue crews found the 4-year-old girl alive under the boat.
"That was awesome. You don't see kids do that these day, sacrifice themselves for somebody else. You don't really see that much," said Brennan Estopinal, the father of one of the boys involved in the accident.
The body of O'Keefe was found shortly after 8 a.m. As the search continues for Jonie Morgan, rescue crews say to search under water in the area is very difficult.
"It's a hazardous water environment. It's a low head dam," said Lt. Jason Russo of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "Water runs over the dam, so the water immediately behind it is very turbulent, treacherous waters. It's a leading contributing factor to the accident itself as they went over it."
Source:http://www.wwltv.com