Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency 2008 boating report
* 159 boating accidents reported
* 58.2 per 100,000 accident rate for registered vessels
* The most likely time to be involved in an accident was between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
* The most likely day of the week to be involved in an accident was Saturday
* The leading age group of operators to be involved in an accident was 41- to 45 -years -old
* 20 boating fatalities were reported
* The type of vessel most commonly reported in fatal accidents was the open motorboat
* The length of the vessel most commonly reported in fatal accidents was 16 to 26 feet
Anceito Ocampo drove as fast as he could from Texas to Marion County when he heard his brother had been lost in a boating accident over the weekend.
"I miss my brother," Anceito Ocampo said Monday. "I need the body. It's hard for me to come over here and not see my brother."
Angel Ocampo, 48, and two others have been missing since a Saturday night boat accident at the Nickajack Dam.
Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officers and local rescue squads continued to search Monday for the three boaters in what is now termed a recovery operation.
The names of the other two boaters have not been released pending family notification, TWRA Officer Russell Vandergriff said.
A group of five people from Dalton, Ga., were fishing under the dam on the Tennessee River at about 7 p.m. CST Saturday when their boat was pulled into a flood gate, said Joey Wray, an assistant supervisor with the TWRA.
Brothers Hildebrando Hureta-Hernadez, 14, and Norberto Hureta-Hernadez, 26, were found Saturday night about two miles downstream with no apparent injuries, he said.
The 18-foot ski boat was caught along a concrete wall before being sucked into the spewing flood gates, said TWRA Officer Mike Bailey. The gates were open and the Tennessee Valley Authority's electric turbines were running at the time, he said.
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Staff Photo by Patrick Smith Russell Vandergriff, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officer for Marion County, talks with the family of a missing Dalton, Ga., boater at a Tennessee River boat ramp on Monday. Family members traveled from Illinois and Texas after hearing that three men were missing after a boating accident near Nickajack Dam while on a fishing trip Saturday. Fragments of the boat have been recovered, while the TWRA continues searching.
By boat, Mr. Vandergriff, the lead investigator for the accident, and another officer searched the shores from the dam to the Alabama state line Monday morning and found some debris from the shattered ski boat.
At this time, there is no evidence that alcohol was involved and all occupants were wearing lifejackets, based on statements, he said.
"With the water temperature at 55 (degrees), if someone is in the water, it's tough to survive," he said. "But anything is possible."
Steve Lamb, director of the Marion County Emergency Management Agency, said searches were stopped about 4 p.m. CST Monday.
An "intermittent" search would continue this week, he said, with a larger-scale search starting Friday.
Officer Bailey said much of the investigation effort would be centered on floodgate schedules. Officers have seen oil rising to the surface near where the accident occurred and need to get close to the dam wall to look beneath the surface with a special camera, he said.
The Nickajack Dam, which is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, has horns, strobe lights and warning signs posted to alert boaters to water releases, said TVA spokesman James Allen.
There is no legal limit for the distance that boaters must stay away from dams, he said. But water releases can cause "strong surface and underwater currents, rapidly rising water and sudden water surges," according to the TVA Web site.
All signs are posted only in English, he said, and many of the boat occupants are Spanish speakers.
Times Free Press Videographer Patrick Smith contributed to this story.
Todd South covers courts and the military for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper for three years and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact Todd ...
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