Update
Rescuers found the body of Williams Mills in Lake Waccamaw Saturday using a sonar unit brought in from Craven County. Mills was found not far from where the paddle boat he and two friends were in capsized Wednesday afternoon. A diver recovered the body.
Searchers from several agencies from Columbus and surrounding counties participated in the search, often conducted in sub-freezing weather. Rescuers found the body of Glenn Marvin Thursday. A third boy, Scott Collins, was able to swim to safety but suffered from hypothermia.
The boating accident occurred a few hundred yards in front of the pier at Dale’s Seafood. All three boys attended East Columbus High School.
See Monday’s issue of The News Reporter for a full report and more photos.
The body of 17-year-old Glenn Marvin was recovered today (Thursday, Jan. 3) about noon from Lake Waccamaw. The youth is one of two East Columbus High School students who drowned Wednesday afternoon in a boating accident at the lake.
His body was found within 300 yards of the pier at Dale’s Seafood restaurant. This is where Scott Collins, 18, of the lake swam to shore at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Searchers are battling frigid conditions with stiff winds in 30-degree weather on the lake as they continue looking for the body of William Mills, 18, also from Delco.
See today’s story on Page 1 for more details.
Rescuers battle high wind, frigid water as they resume search today (Thursday) in Lake Waccamaw. One of three teenagers managed to swim ashore after a paddle boat capsized late Wednesday afternoon.
By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer
Rescue personnel again fought bitter cold wind and frigid water in Lake Waccamaw this morning (Thursday) as they sought to recover the bodies of two East Columbus High School students missing after a boat capsized Wednesday afternoon.
Gusts as high as 18 mph and a steady northwest wind at about 12 mph made conditions almost unbearable on the choppy waters of the lake. Rescuers called off search efforts at midnight Wednesday.
William Mills, 18, and Glenn Marvin, 17, both of the Delco area, are missing following the 3:30-3:45 p.m. accident about a mile into the lake from the north shore.
Scott Collins, 18, and a resident of Lake Waccamaw, managed to swim to within 400 yards of the shoreline in front of Dale’s Seafood restaurant, and walked the rest of the way to safety. He emerged from the lake at 4:30 p.m.
Helicopter used
Collins, suffering from hypothermia, was taken to Columbus Regional Healthcare by rescue workers at about 5 p.m.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, equipped with a piercing searchlight and thermal imaging gear, made two trips Wednesday night and searched the west end of the lake.
At least 10 small boats – ranging from the Wildlife Resources Commission to craft from Supply, Acme-Delco-Riegelwood, White Lake and Lake Waccamaw – fought the elements for about four hours Wednesday night.
A rescue boat from the Seagate community in New Hanover County was too large to be launched into the shallow water at the boat ramp on the west end of the lake.
However, the Seagate craft had a Coast Guard radio and this enabled rescuers to talk to the helicopter.
Lake Police Chief Scott Hyatt provided the following information:
Collins, Mills and Marvin decided to put a small paddle boat into the lake following the end of their school day – the first session of school following the Christmas and New Year’s Day break.
Launched boat
The teenagers drove to a home near the west end of the first bridge on Canal Cove Road. They launched the small craft into shallow water along the edge of the lake’s cove area leading to the deepest part of the lake.
The water level is at least 14 to 15 inches down from the top of the dam on the lake’s south side, and about 17 to 18 inches lower than normal.
The boys were going “to mess around a little,” according to a report from people who talked to Collins at the hospital here.
As the boys moved farther from shore they escaped the tree line that provided a partial buffer to the strong wind Wednesday afternoon, and the wind began to push the boat farther into the lake, despite the teens’ best efforts to stay close to shore.
Boat kept moving out
Collins told officers that the three teens paddled as hard as they could, but couldn’t make any headway against the wind, and the boat kept moving out into the lake.
The northwest wind pushed the small white boat southeast, and it was moving toward the dam and state park area when it capsized. The exact location of the accident is not clear, but is believed to be at least a mile or more offshore in front of the seafood restaurant.
Collins, almost unable to be understood as he tried to report what happened to restaurant workers, said he had been in the water “for hours.” It’s not clear if he was confused by his harrowing experience and did not clearly understand the time issue.
Kaitlyn Ward, a waitress at Dale’s Seafood, said she was waiting on some customers when one of them pointed to a person walking to shore in the shallow water in front of the restaurant.
Smokey Bell, a cook at the business, said he was in his pickup truck parked behind the building, and noticed a young person (Collins) coming to the shore from the water.
“He walked to where I was in my truck. He told me he and two other boys had turned over in their boat. I brought him inside here and tried to get him dry and get some hot liquid in him,” Bell said.
‘Couldn’t say much’
“He was so cold he couldn’t say very many words. He couldn’t handle a cup of hot coffee. He was out of it. He stayed here about 20 minutes before they took him to the hospital,” Bell added.
Collins spoke to his family by telephone about what happened before being taken for medical treatment. Collins lives in the 3900 block of Waccamaw Shores Road, near the dam on the south side of the lake.
As rescuers were gathering outside the lake restaurant, Police Officer Jeff Marlowe used binoculars to locate the bobbing white boat far into the lake. It was visible between each large wave as it was being pushed to the southern shoreline, almost in front of the dam.
A N.C. Forest Service plane was used to help locate the boat and to scan for survivors. The first rescue boat reached the overturned craft at 5:30 p.m., and the boat was pulled to the west end near the boat ramp.
Wind, cold brutal
Ice was scraped off rescuers and boats as they fought the elements late Wednesday. The wind chill was at freezing or below all day Wednesday, and force of the wind was amplified as it moved across the open water.
By the time rescuers abandoned efforts Wednesday night, the wind-chill factor was in the single digits and dipped to zero and below in some of the highest wind gusts.
Today’s early temperature ranged from 20 to 25 degrees with a steady 10 to 12 mph wind – far below the freezing point.
Visit whiteville.com for updates to this story after presstime.