Crews Continue Search For Missing Man On Dale Hollow Lake

The threat of severe weather has led Clay County authorities to scale back search efforts for the body of missing man on Dale Hollow Lake.

“We do have a few of our local rescue squad members who are back out on the water today,” Clay County Emergency Management Agency Director Natalie Boone said. “We’re just gonna have to watch the weather really closely.”

The 52-year-old man from Gainesboro is presumed dead after he went missing Wednesday when he fell off a jet ski at the Dale Hollow Reservoir and never resurfaced.

“We got severe weather coming in this afternoon and this evening. We’re going to take that opportunity to put together a larger search effort and try to get some mutual aid together from surrounding counties,” Boone said. “Hopefully on Saturday, weather permitting, we can have a larger number of people in here to get out there and try to locate.”

Boone said local rescue squad members will continue to comb the water throughout the day Friday. TWRA has also assisted with utilizing sonar technology during the search.

“It’s very difficult spot that we are having to search,” Boone said. “The deepest water that we have found in that area is 132 feet.”

According to Boone, two witnesses saw the man crash but he didn’t resurface after hitting the water.

“The story that we got from the witnesses who were with him stated that he hit a wave from another boat that had come through,” Boone said. “He hit that wave and it threw him off.”

Witnesses said the man was wearing a life jacket until it fell off moments before the accident occurred.

Authorities have not released the identity of the man.