Toll-Free: 888.472.1440
Phone: 713.224.7800
Interested in working with us? Call us Toll Free at 888.472.1440 or fill out this quick form and we will contact you within 24 hours!
A missing barge towboat deckhand is believed to have fallen into the Black Warrior River early Friday, March 13, 2009. Officials are doubtful that the crewman survived, but they still continued to search for his body.
Captain Michael Patrick with the Alabama Marine Police said that when they first started the search, they were looking at the banks for a possible survivor, but that it has become more apparent that he did not survive and the efforts have turned to searching for his body in the water.
According to police and officials with Parker Towing, Thomas Willis Lindley Jr. of Tuscaloosa was found to be missing just after midnight Thursday. Lindley, a deckhand with Parker Towing, is believed to have fallen off the vessel towing barges.
At approximately 2:00 AM on Friday, marine police began their search for Lindley along the 11-mile stretch of Mulberry Fork in Walker County, which is one of three tributaries that form the Black Warrior River. The U.S. Coast Guard sent an auxiliary unit to help with the search that Saturday.
Company boats also assisted in the search efforts.
Lindley was described as being a strong swimmer and the hope was that he could have made it to the bank. However, the search did not move onto land because it was too difficult to determine which side of the river he would have swam to and whether he even made it to land.
Read More About Barge Towboat Deckhand Missing...
