RICHMOND, Va. -- A man who was last seen between the Willey and Hugenot bridges, remains missing in the James River Tuesday morning. Rescuers searched for the man for nearly three hours Monday before the search was halted. Jennifer Gardner saw two men with a canoe across the river on an island earlier in the day. She said it wasn’t raining, but there was plenty of lightning.
“We were worried at first that they were going to try to take off, but it was lightning quite a bit so we were happy they decided to stay,” Gardner explained.
When Gardner returned home after running errands, her backyard was full of Richmond firefighters.
“We found out they had taken off in the canoe and one of the gentleman has not been seen since that point,” she explained.
Richmond Fire Lieutenant Shawn Jones said the overturned canoe belonging to the men was located in the river. Rescue workers also made contact with one of the two men. He said his friend didn’t have a personal flotation device on and he couldn’t swim. More storms forced rescue workers to suspend the search early.
Gardner remained hopeful, but said this should serve as a reminder to people to be careful.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” she said.
The search for the man was expected to resume Tuesday.
