BOATING MISHAP: SEARCH FOR MAN CONTINUES TODAY

Search efforts continue for a Cape Girardeau man still missing after a boating accident Saturday night on the Mississippi River.

No name is being released by authorities until a body is recovered. However, authorities did say the man was 42 years old.

Members of the Missouri State Water Patrol in Poplar Bluff joined the search Sunday afternoon and continued working late into the night.

Authorities will resume the search today.

"It's a slow process," said Tom Hinkebein, battalion chief with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

The water patrol could continue its efforts for as many as three days before the search would be called off, he said.

Authorities are centering their search on a 100- to 150-foot area around the dredging operation at the Cape Girardeau Sand Co. It sits about 1,000 feet from Honkers boat dock along North Water Street.

Water patrol officials Sunday used grappling hooks to try to snag the man's clothing or body. However, he was only reported to have been wearing khaki shorts and rubber water shoes, Hinkebein said.

Officials think the man had been aboard a 15-foot pleasure boat with four friends, including a child. The group had floated along the Mississippi River from Trail of Tears State Park down to Cape Girardeau and were returning around 9:30 p.m.

The boat apparently ran out of gas and the group had hoped to float downriver to buy more fuel. Along the way, the boat hit a barge near a dredging operation and capsized and a strong current pulled the passengers underwater.

No one in the boat was wearing flotation devices.

After the boat capsized, several people fishing along the riverbanks at Honkers Dock heard someone yelling for help.

When they shined a flashlight in the direction of the voices, it caught the reflection of a woman's glasses, Hinkebein said. That woman was stranded on a barge.

Another woman and child were able to swim to shore where people helped pull them from the water. A man was pulled from the river when firefighters arrived on scene.

The search Saturday continued into the early morning Sunday when crews had to stop because of the darkness. The search began again at 8 a.m. Sunday.

"There's a chance we might get lucky," Hinkebein said, but high river waters make the search activity more difficult, "especially with all the debris in the river."

The Mississippi River stood at 31.4 feet Sunday. The water was expected to drop a half foot by today. Flood stage on the river is 32 feet.

Barge traffic was initially halted Saturday so crews could more easily search the waters. Traffic resumed Sunday because the search area was concentrated along the riverbank.

Dropping waters could help in the search because the man's body might be exposed. Hinkebein said there was little chance the man could have survived.

However, the family, who waited at the scene, remained hopeful.

"They need some closure," he said.

Family members declined to be interviewed by the Southeast Missourian. They had gathered under a covered shelter at the boat dock to await word from rescue crews.

Dozens of boat trailers were parked in the gravel lot at the dock. Many people had volunteered their boats for use in the search, Hinkebein said.

But he didn't want to "just put anybody with a boat in there." Hinkebein limited volunteers to fishermen who knew that section of the river well.