DEERPARK – They went through Port Jervis schools together, grew up as lifelong best of friends, and on Thursday morning took advantage of a sunny morning and hometown visit to go fishing together on the Delaware River. Within a short time, the duo’s carefully planned river trip turned tragic and one spent the rest of a heart-wrenching day helping rescuers try to find his missing buddy.
The two, both graduates of Port Jervis High School Class of 1992, entered the Delaware River at Hook Road in the Town of Deerpark in a new flat-bottom Jon Boat belonging to the missing friend. They brought lots of supplies, including life jackets that unfortunately were not immediately being worn, and were making their way upriver to a calm fishing location just before the Hawks Nest when in an instant their lives changed.
As they made their way past a mid-river island known as Cherry Island, their boat with all their supplies capsized in rapids along the Pennsylvania side of the river. Both were thrown into the water but were able to make it to the island. A hasty decision spurred by the loss of the new boat prompted them back into the water, life jackets missing, and into what became life-threatening attempts by each to survive.
One was able to cross the narrower stretch of river to the New York shore, shouting directions to his friend to either swim toward shore, grab branches near him, or move back toward the island. There was no way to reach his friend in the strong flow and heightened level of the water that followed recent days of heavy rainfall. Yet his friend remained standing in the New York side channel of the river, non-responsive to urgent, encouraging directions being frantically shouted for him to take.
Emergency responders on scene advised the friend who made it to shore, and who was attempting to understand why this happened, that a person’s reaction in such a situation may result from any number of factors, including panic or having inhaled water.
The water was 59 degrees at the time of the incident, just after 7 a.m. Water current and river landscapes vary greatly along the river and can instantly switch from calm or shallow to deep and treacherous in an instant. The Pennsylvania side of the island, where the boat capsized, consists of a lengthy area of rapids. The New York side has a strong, fast-flowing channel which is inadvisable to try to swim through. Somehow one did make it through to shore.
(c) Mid-Hudson News
All fire departments from Battalion 8, as well as a search and rescue canine unit, New York State Police units, Town of Deerpark Police, National Park Service rangers, and the families of both young men were on scene throughout the day. Under Sparrowbush Engine Company’s command, water rescue crews, each equipped with canines and divers on their boats, scoured the river from above Number 2 Bridge in the Town of Deerpark to the downriver Route 84 overpass in Port Jervis. Due to very murky, elevated water levels the search was conducted from boats and shore points.
Some of the capsized boat’s supplies were recovered near the Mid-Delaware Bridge between Port Jervis, NY and Matamoras, PA. The Jon Boat was recovered further down, near the Route 84 overpass in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
The search was suspended at about 4 p.m. and resumed this morning.
