Crews search for man's body on Hyco Lake following fatal boating accident

Crews on Thursday morning were continuing to search Hyco Lake following a fatal boating accident Wednesday night.

The Person County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an empty boat in the McGhee’s Mill area of the lake, near the Person-Caswell county line, and recovered a woman’s body that had been found by a fisherman Wednesday night.

"There was some other people out here fishing and spotted the boat, just drifting. They actually helped bring the boat in and that's when they called us," Person County Sheriff Dewey Jones said.

The woman’s body has been sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine cause of death, but authorities said there were no visible signs of foul play.

Jones said the woman had been in the boat with a man and crews on Thursday morning were conducting a search and recovery mission for his body.

Crews on Thursday were expected to search about 4 acres around the lake, which is 15 to 20 feet deep, according to authorities.

Jones said the man and woman had been dating for about three weeks and were fishing together Wednesday. Authorities did not say what caused the couple to end up in the water, but said the boat had motor damage.

"At this point, we don't really know if we have an incident or an accident. The damage that's done to the boat, almost ripped the motor off of it. We don't know if it actually hit something or was hit by another boat," Jones said. "The boat itself appeared to still be in forward motion. There was a hand throttle, so it was like it was going down the water when whatever happened.

Jones said they were able to identify the man and woman based on papers in the boat and on the man’s truck, which was in the parking lot, but are not releasing the names until the man’s body has been found. He said the man and woman are between the ages of 50 and 60.

Jones said they will not call off the search until the man’s body is recovered, noting that crews once searched for a body for 30 days before it was located.