DNR searching for two missing males in White River near Williams Dam

Williams, Indiana – July 21, 2020

More than a dozen Indiana Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers responded Tuesday to the White River in Williams, Ind., where two male subjects are missing after stepping from a shallow part of the river into a deep channel filled with fast-moving water.

Officers used two different types of sonar, divers performing pattern searches, and officers in boats while searching for the missing males. Currently, officers have not located them but plan to search until sunset, and then resume their search in the morning, according to Conservation Officer Jim Hash, who was helping search Tuesday.

It was the intent of the missing subjects to fish, and they had fishing equipment, said Hash. Witnesses saw the missing males wade across the river, then get swept 75-100 yards down the river before they disappeared, and did not come back to the water’s surface at approximately 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The area where the men disappeared is below the Williams Dam, which was the location of a deadly DNR training accident in 1998 that cost one conservation officer his life. Hash said it’s a reminder that even experienced people can get into trouble with mother nature.

Hash said he’d like to remind the public that if they are around water, and unfamiliar with the terrain, to wear a life jacket. The men were wading in an area of the water that was shallow, but drops off into a channel that’s 5-15 feet deep and filled with fast-moving water. The missing subjects were unable to fight the current.

Approximately 20 DNR Conservation Officers responded to the scene, and about 14-15 were on the scene that at any given time, said Hash. Officers from Districts 5, 6, and 8 responded.

The identities of the missing males are being withheld at this time as family members are notified.