Authorities have called off the search for Rohan Mathew, the 27-year-old Lawrenceville man who is believed to have drowned in Lake Lanier.
Forsyth County Fire Chief Danny Bowman issued an executive order Friday morning for crews to stop searching for Mathew, who went went underwater during a houseboat outing with friends on May 2, Capt. Jason Shivers said.
Bowman made the decision after Mathew's father met with him and visited the site where divers and rescue workers were searching for his son's body, Shivers said. Mathew, who is from India, has no family in the United States except for a distant cousin who lives in the northeast, Shivers said.
"That was very important to us to have him come here -- and not show up to see nothing being done," Shivers said. "If we couldn't give the gentleman his son to take home, we at least wanted him to leave with the peace of mind that there are people here who care."
Shivers said Forsyth firefighters spent 1,200 manhours in the past 12 days searching for Mathew.
"At some point the chief had to make a call," Shivers said. "Firemen are quite a stubborn bunch. If the chief hadn't made us quit, they would have kept at it."
Other agencies, including the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department, firefighters from Dawson and Cherokee counties, the state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assisted in the search.
"There have been a lot of people involved in the efforts," Shivers told the AJC. "Unfortunately we have not been able to find him. I cannot express to you the disappointment that the firefighters have."
Mathew and several friends rented a houseboat from a local marina. After going down a slide on the boat and landing in the water, he apparently became distressed, witnesses said.
Because so many people did see what happened to Mathew, rescue workers continued to search for him beyond the typical three-to-four day time period, Shivers said.
"We had a lot of people who had given us great and credible information on where he should be," Shivers said. "And, we had very consistent hits by the cadaver-sniffing canines."
The incident happened near Six Mile Creek, east of the Shady Grove campsite. Shivers said while most of that area is about 60-feet deep, it quickly drops off to 120 feet below the surface. Authorities fear that Mathew's body is in that area of very deep water.
"Those areas are extremely dangerous (for rescue workers) to dive in. There's trees, brush and 60 years of fishing line that's strung through here," Shivers said. "Without fail, every time our divers go through there, they get hung up in that fishing line."
Shivers said authorities will pass over the area where Mathew is believed to be to continue to look for his body.
"We want to be the one to find it and not a civilian," he said.
"It's not for the rescue because there's no one to rescue," Shivers said. "The whole reason is to help give families closure."
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