Recovery teams locate body of boater

JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) - Recovery crews located the body of one of two missing boaters last seen Thursday morning in the York River.

Crews from the Virginia State Police and the Virginia Marine Resource Commission located the body about 12:30 p.m. Saturday on an island in the middle of the river, said Bill Apperson, public information officer with the James City - Bruton Volunteer Fire Department.

The search continues for the body the second boater.

Arthur Brooks, 78, and Al Madison, 63, were fishing in a 23-foot boat in the York River Thursday morning. James City County 9-1-1 dispatchers notified the Coast Guard that the men were missing just before 10 a.m. the same day.

A Coast Guard helicopter located an overturned vessel in the York River just after 11 a.m. Thursday in the vicinity where a boat and its crew went missing. The boat was in 12 feet of water, Apperson said.

Preston Smith, 68, a friend of the two who was in a different vessel, said he looked back and noticed the boat and the men were gone.

"The last thing we said to each other was we better fish them quick because once the tide changes the water is going to get rough," he said. "I loaded my boat on the trailer and pulled the boat out of the water and looked out there and I couldn't see them anywhere."

Smith said he went for binoculars but called for help when he could not see anything. He said the two men never carried cell phones or wore life jackets while on board.

"Life jackets get in your way they hang up on the nets and everything else."

Bob Riles, the District Chief of the James City County Fire Department, said the Coast Guard deployed a rescue swimmer. The swimmer searched the water around and under the vessel but did not find anyone, Riles told WAVY.com.

Crews secured the vessel.

The James City County Fire Department led the search with assistance from the Coast Guard, the Bruton Fire Department, boats from Camp Peary and Marine Police Resources.