Two teenage brothers' duck hunting trip in Oroville, Calif., turns disastrous when one brother's kayak capsizes in a stormy lake and the other dove. A week later, the authorities have not been able to find a single boy.
Wesley Cornett, 17, and Andrew Cornett, 19, went missing Dec. 14 while on a hunting trip in Thermalito Afterbay — a 4,300-acre lake in Butte County with weeds up to 10 feet tall and temperatures that threaten hypothermia, according to the -Butte. County Sheriff's Office.
On Monday, the Sheriff's Office announced that all efforts to locate the boys underwater using divers and sonar technology had ended. The search-and-recovery operation is now shifting to an “ongoing limited search” focused on scanning the entire area of the lake, using aircraft, drones, trained dogs, boats and shore vehicles, the Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities first learned the boys were in trouble when Andruw called 911 to report his brother's kayak overturned in the lake at 8:33 a.m. on Dec. 14, the Sheriff's Office said. Dispatch personnel advised Andruw to stay in his kayak “multiple times,” but he insisted on getting behind his little brother to try to rescue him.
Oroville County was hit by heavy rain that day, causing about 5,000 Butte County residents to lose power, Action News Now reported.
A Butte County sheriff's deputy arrived on the scene less than 15 minutes after receiving the call from Andruw and was quickly joined by members of the Cal Fire Water Rescue team, the Sheriff's Office said.
Around 9 a.m. the deputy saw the kayak and, possibly, one of the brothers. About 20 minutes later, the kayak, paddles and waders were found, but the boys were nowhere to be seen.
Over the past ten days a massive collaborative search effort has been undertaken, using around 280 team members from 21 different organisations.
“Thousands of acres have been searched by boat, land and rafts,” said Trevor Skaggs, with the Sheriff's Office search and rescue team, in a video shared by the Sheriff's Office.
Divers spent hours being towed by boats under the murky surface of the lake, facing challenging search conditions.
Weeds up to 10 feet high threatened to engulf it, while the swirling mud made it impossible to see more than a few inches in the water, according to the Sheriff's Office. Divers had to limit the time spent underground because the temperatures were so low that they risked hypothermia.
Dense vegetation and surface swelling made it challenging for sonar technology to capture clear and accurate images of the bottom of the lake, which ranges from 3 to 30 feet deep.
Divers found Andruw's pants last Tuesday, Wesley's wallet on Thursday and Wesley's jacket and phone on Friday.
In a GoFundMe post, April Clark, the boys' mother, said Andrew is a hero in her eyes for trying to save Wesley.
“The Sheriff says this is now a search and recovery so I have to plan to put my two boys to sleep,” he wrote. “This terrible accident, my family and I are trying to cover our heads and we have 4 girls at home that we still need to take care of.”
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