Authorities search for barge worker who fell into river

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. ­-- Search-and-rescue workers continue to look for Jerry Hooper, the Kinder Morgan worker who fell overboard from a barge into the Mississippi River on Saturday night. Several agencies are involved in the search.

About 8:25 p.m. Saturday, in response to a call from the company, a Mississippi County sheriff's deputy arrived at Kinder Morgan and was told employees had located Hooper and were trying to get him into a boat. Seven minutes later, they lost the victim in the river.

At 8:52 p.m., they re-located Hooper and tried to put a life jacket on him. In the process, however, his unconscious body worked itself out of the vest and slipped back underwater. He has not been seen since.

Hooper is the third employee of Kinder Morgan's Hickman facility in Blytheville to require a search effort on the Mississippi River within the past 21 months. On April 8, 2014, employees Juan Nieves and Nicolas Perez were "lost in the river" when a barge carrying steel coils that were being unloaded sank in less than 30 seconds. One body was found about three weeks later; the other was found in August 2015.

Personnel from Kinder Morgan, the United States Coast Guard, Blytheville Emergency Squad, Pemiscot County Rescue Squad and the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department since have staged search patrols for Hooper. High water posed a problem for agencies in the search trying to launch vessels into the river.

"We still have a good chance of finding him. ... We're not going to give up," a spokesman for the Blytheville Emergency Squad said Monday. "Yesterday, we were out there, and it was tough. It was only about 22 degrees out on the river, but we looked all day."

Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook said the weather and high water make it dangerous on the river for those participating in the search.

"Our search continues at the present time," Richard Wheatley, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan said. "We are hopeful that we will succeed in finding him. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time."

Wheatley praised the fast response time and support offered by the Blytheville Emergency Squad and said the company was thankful to all who have been involved in the search.