A rescue team is searching for four missing men who may have gone overboard on a boat during a prank gone awry.
The men are feared drowned during a boating trip, leaving five young children adrift on the boat in the 87-square-mile American Falls reservoir Sunday evening, authorities said
The children told marine patrol deputies that one of the men was standing near the edge of the boat when another one thought it would be funny to push him overboard, Power County Sheriff Jim Jeffries said.
“But apparently, he couldn’t swim, so he was immediately in distress, The second man jumped in, and so then there were two of them in distress in the water, so the third jumped in and there were three in distress.”
The children in the boat were between the ages of 2 and 9. One found a cell phone and called 911 after the men began struggling in the water.
The last adult on the boat managed to grab a life jacket before jumping in to try to save the other three, Jeffries said, but he wasn’t wearing it. The water was muddy, and visibility was low, Jeffries said.
“The water’s about 45 feet deep, and it’s hard to see . You can see your hand, and that’s about it. There’s a lot of trees and rebar sticking up in the bottom of the water, and the divers are getting hung up in those sticks and things. It’s a slow, tedious process.”
A rescue team is still looking for the men.
