A few days after the tow boat ‘Ricky Robinson’ sank in the Mississippi River, salvors found one of its two missing crewmen, when the boat was recovered on Sunday, 17 December, officials reported.
The 66-foot towboat had sank south of Mud Island in Memphis on December 8.
Captain Keith Pigrem sent a distress call, but he and his stepson, deckhand Anquavious Johnson, went missing when the boat sank.
The US Coast Guard and local authorities searched over 300 river miles, during 29 hours, with relatives of the two men assisting with a riverbank search.
In a statement released by harbor and fleeting service Wepfer Marine, the company said the body of one of the missing crewmembers was found, after USCG and Wepfer brought the vessel to the surface.
The company was quoted by local media as saying that the area the boat sank is very difficult. Namely, the vessel is in a very deep part of the Mississippi River, 65 feet deep in muddy water, with visibility being extremely difficult to be achieved.