Just now: Parents of missing rower Jeremiah Gamble reveal their son’s last 3-word message before he was reported missing, and it’s now causing police a headache
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A 25-year-old boater is still missing after jumping or falling off a pontoon boat on Guntersville Lake Sunday.
Jeremiah Gamble’s parents said they spoke with him on FaceTime minutes before he was reported missing.
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“He told me he couldn’t hardly hear me talk, and so he told me that he would he would call me back later,” said his father, Patrick Gamble. “10-15 minutes later, I got a phone call. He’s in the water, can’t nobody find him.”
Marshall County EMA Director Blake Farmer said Gamble was on a pontoon boat with friends near Goat Island and Honeycomb Creek when he either jumped or fell into the water. Farmer said Gamble was wearing a life jacket, but it slipped off, and he couldn’t swim.
Multiple agencies have been searching for Gamble in the area where he disappeared, including Guntersville Rescue Squad, Crane Hill Fire and Rescue, and ALEA’s Marine Patrol Division. Blake said thick eelgrass growing at the bottom of the lake is posing a challenge for rescue boats and divers.
“We’ve had dogs out here today, we’ve had sonars running constantly, they have done some dragging of the water, but the vegetation in this area is hindering that,” Farmer said.
Freedom Boat Club Captain Jon Gibbs said in addition to lifejackets, it’s important to keep a throwable floatation device on board.
“If there’s ever an instance where somebody goes in the water, [a throwable] is what you grab immediately and throw it as close to that person as possible,” he said. “Hopefully, they just come up and grab it.”
Jeremiah’s parents said their son was a new father and a disabled veteran who worked in Huntsville. They said they’re searching for answers, both from authorities and the last people who saw their son alive on the boat.
“We don’t know if he fell off the boat, jumped off the boat, was pushed off the boat or what happened, but some kind of way he ended up in the water,” said Patrick Gamble. “If it was an accident, the people on the boat ought to be willing to expose that. That’s all we ask for is the truth.”
Farmer said crews will be out again early Wednesday morning, and they plan to widen the area of the lake they’re searching.
SOURE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/parents-missing-boater-plead-answers-035659035.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
