It is now day three in the search for a missing swimmer in the Susquehanna River.
19-year-old Jason Howard is a recent Donegal High School graduate who went missing in the river. Wednesday night around 7:00, he and two friends were trying to swim across the Susquehanna when he vanished.
His family tells CBS 21 News that his friends saw him go under but couldn’t save him.
Curtis Shearer is with the Columbia Fire Company. He has played a large part is the search, which has been difficult.
He says the visibility of the water is only about 8 to 10 feet. Plus the river is low, which you may think would make the search easier, but he says it’s the exact opposite because rocks and downed trees that normally would not be exposed are and that creates difficult conditions.
Not only that, but all the exposed material makes for more dangerous swimming. So even though the water seems slow and low, it can be more treacherous than when its high and fast.
“You look at it now and you think, ‘all yeah, you can swim across it,’ but no,” urged Columbia Fire Companies’ Curtis Shearer. “Underneath with the undertow, you are going to have problems. I would say yesterday it was probably around 15 to 20 knots underneath. Up top it doesn’t look bad, but on the bottom it is.”
Unfortunately, this is not that rare. Shearer told us a couple people every year go missing in the river near Marietta. Crew will look for Howard until they find him.
19-year-old Jason Howard is a recent Donegal High School graduate who went missing in the river. Wednesday night around 7:00, he and two friends were trying to swim across the Susquehanna when he vanished.
His family tells CBS 21 News that his friends saw him go under but couldn’t save him.
Curtis Shearer is with the Columbia Fire Company. He has played a large part is the search, which has been difficult.
He says the visibility of the water is only about 8 to 10 feet. Plus the river is low, which you may think would make the search easier, but he says it’s the exact opposite because rocks and downed trees that normally would not be exposed are and that creates difficult conditions.
Not only that, but all the exposed material makes for more dangerous swimming. So even though the water seems slow and low, it can be more treacherous than when its high and fast.
“You look at it now and you think, ‘all yeah, you can swim across it,’ but no,” urged Columbia Fire Companies’ Curtis Shearer. “Underneath with the undertow, you are going to have problems. I would say yesterday it was probably around 15 to 20 knots underneath. Up top it doesn’t look bad, but on the bottom it is.”
Unfortunately, this is not that rare. Shearer told us a couple people every year go missing in the river near Marietta. Crew will look for Howard until they find him.