A duck-hunting trip for two teenage brothers in Oroville, Calif., took a disastrous turn when one brother’s kayak flipped on a choppy lake and the other brother jumped in to help. More than a week later, authorities still couldn’t find either boy.
Wesley Cornett, 17, and Andruw Cornett, 19, went missing on Dec. 14 during a hunting expedition in Thermalito Afterbay. A 4,300-acre lake in Butte County has weeds up to 10 feet tall and temperatures that can cause hypothermia.
On Monday, the Sheriff’s Office announced that all efforts to find the boy underwater using divers and sonar technology have been exhausted. The Sheriff’s Office said the search and recovery mission is now shifting to an “ongoing limited search” focused on scouring the lake using aircraft, drones, trained dogs, boats and shore vehicles.
Authorities first learned the boys were in trouble when Andrew called 911 at 8:33 a.m. on Dec. 14 to report that his brother’s kayak had overturned in the lake, the Sheriff’s Office said. Dispatchers recommended “multiple times” that Andrew stay in the kayak, but he insisted on diving behind his brother in an attempt to rescue him.
According to “Action News Now”, heavy rains hit the Oroville area that day, causing about 5,000 residents in Butte County to lose power.
The Sheriff’s Office said the first Butte County Sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene less than 15 minutes after receiving Andrew’s call, and members of the Cal Fire Water Rescue Team joined the scene shortly after.
Around 9 a.m., a deputy spotted a kayak and possibly one of the brothers. About 20 minutes later, a kayak, paddles and wading shoes were found, but the boys were nowhere to be seen.
Over the past 10 days, approximately 280 team members from 21 different agencies conducted a large-scale collaborative search effort.
“Thousands of acres have been searched by boat, ground and raft,” Trevor Skaggs of the Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team said in a video shared by the Sheriff’s Office.
Divers spent hours being towed by boats beneath the murky lake’s surface, dealing with challenging search conditions.
Weeds up to 10 feet tall can tangle them, while turned-up mud prevents them from seeing more than a few inches into the water, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Divers must limit the time they spend underwater because extremely low temperatures put them at risk of hypothermia.
Dense vegetation and surface ridges make it difficult for sonar technology to capture clear and accurate images of lakes 3 to 30 feet deep.
Divers found Andrew’s pants last Tuesday, Wesley’s wallet on Thursday and Wesley’s jacket and cell phone on Friday.
The boy’s mother, April Clark, said in a post on GoFundMe that Andrew was a hero in her eyes because he tried to save Wesley.
“The Sheriff said a search and rescue operation is underway now, so I also have to plan to lay my two sons to rest,” she wrote. “This was a freak accident and my family and I are trying to figure it out in our home. There are four girls and we still need to take care of them.”
