Relatives of a man missing in Chickamauga Lake say they do not understand why his fishing boat didn’t move Saturday to avoid a huge nine-barge load being pushed down the Tennessee River by a tugboat.
“Ricky’s been fishing on this river for 30 years,” said Richard Wilkey’s brother, Melvin. “Every time I was with him and we saw a barge coming, we’d drop the line and get out the way. Something went wrong at some point on their boat.”
The resulting collision led to the death of Tim Spidle, 45, of Elizabethton, Tenn. Mr. Wilkey’s nephew, David “Chris” Wilkey, 37, of Soddy-Daisy, survived with no injuries.
Richard Wilkey, a 42-year-old Soddy-Daisy native, still is missing.