A 4-year-old boy’s body was found Friday morning in the Chattahoochee River, ending a nine-day search.
Beau Rabon was discovered just before 8:35 a.m., five days after his 27-year-old father, James Rabon, was pulled from the river on Easter Sunday, Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark McKinnon said.
The father and child weren’t wearing life jackets when they went fishing from the bank about 250 yards south of Oliver Dam on March 28, according to Columbus fire.
The boy fell into the water and his father went in to rescue him, authorities told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
When witnesses saw them go under they notified authorities, and an extensive search began.
Capt. Daniel Hord, a diver and 14-year Columbus fire veteran, told the newspaper that divers rotated to keep them fresh during what he said was the longest dive operation he’s been on.
The Georgia DNR, Georgia Power and the Corps of Engineers helped in the search.
“We never lost our resolve,” Columbus fire Battalion Chief Bryan Watson said during a news conference Friday.
He said searchers — including two divers from the Department of Natural Resources in Columbia, S.C., and eight from the Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services — wouldn’t quit.
“We gave our word to the family that we would find this kid ...,” Watson said. “We gave the family closure.”
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