2 dead, 3 missing after boat capsizes in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Two people were killed and three remained missing after the pontoon boat they were riding in hit a barge and capsized in the Ohio River, Kentucky authorities said Sunday.

Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick said nine people were aboard the boat and that four were rescued after the accident shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday. He said three of those rescued were children and that they were wearing life jackets.

Frederick said the fatalities include one adult and one child. The missing have been identified as Joyce Wright, Darnal Sweeney and Sweeney’s 10-year-old daughter, CNN reports. It’s unclear if they were wearing life jackets.

Frederick said Sunday evening that the search would continue in the morning but that the Louisville Police Department is now in command as the search turns from a rescue to a recovery effort.

Frederick said the barge was in a construction site about a mile upstream from the Clark Memorial Bridge. He said authorities planned to search for survivors until Sunday night, and that the Civil Air Patrol was helping in the search.

Frederick said the current of the river was too strong to use divers, and that it contained a lot of debris.

“There are entire trees … floating down at a rapid rate of speed,” he said. “We just don’t think it’s safe to put divers in.”