A search resumed Friday on a North Carolina river for two missing tubers after three others were found dead and four were pulled from the water, authorities said.
The group of nine people was floating down the Dan River on inflatable tubes and went over a dam that's about 8 feet (2.5 meters) high next to a Duke Energy plant on Wednesday night, Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates told reporters. A Duke Energy employee who saw some of the tubers called the situation in to 911 Thursday afternoon, Cates said.
Cates said that an air and water search for the remaining two missing tubers went until dark Thursday and resumed Friday morning around 7 a.m. Local television stations showed images of rescue crews putting boats in the water north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line.
Cates did not release the identities of the people involved. Four were rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that Cates said were not life-threatening after spending nearly 24 hours in the water.
Cates said it's not immediately clear why the tubers didn't contact authorities sooner, but he said it may have been because they didn't have phones with them.
He said it's not unusual for people to float the river on tubes or rafts in the area, but most get out and walk around the dam, which is marked by signs.
Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said the employee at the Dan River Combined Cycle Station who called 911 wasn't available for an interview.
