Missing float trip group found safe

Rowynn Ricks

May 06, 2008 10:46 am

— A search for three women and two girls who had not returned home after a float trip Sunday ended successfully Monday morning.
The search began Monday around 10 a.m. after the group failed to arrive at their destination, which was just a few miles down river from where they started their trip on the North Canadian River around noon on Sunday, said Matt Lehenbauer with Woodward City/County Emergency Management.
The three women were in their early 20s and the girls were 10 years old. Names were unavailable Monday night.
“I got a call from a mother who was frantic,” said Acting Sheriff Don Bradley. “She wondered why they never came home.”
“What made us nervous was that one of them had a cell phone, but we couldn’t reach them on the cell phone,” he said.
After receiving the phone call, Bradley immediately began gathering his resources, contacting the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Woodward City/County Emergency Management for assistance.
OHP sent out one of its pilots so it could fly over the river, he said, noting that the agency also offered the use of a air boat if needed.
But, the boat wasn’t needed because “about 15 minutes after the pilot started searching area, he spotted them,” Bradley said.
“They found them pretty quick,” Lehenbauer said.
“The aircraft spotted them approximately two and a half miles north and back west of the river bridge by Chester,” Bradley said.
By the time deputies were finally able to make contact with the group around 10:50 a.m., they had already made it another mile or so down the river, Bradley said.
In talking with the group, Bradley learned that the trip had taken some extra time because their boat kept getting stuck in some shallow areas of the river and they eventually had to bed down for the night.
Fortunately, they had brought plenty of food and water, he said.
So after checking to make sure that no one was hurt, the deputies allowed the group to go back on its way.
“They wanted to finish their little adventure,” Bradley said, noting that they were back with family by 11:30 a.m.