The Oak Ridge Fire Department rescued four people stranded on a boat Wednesday night on the Clinch River, authorities said.
There was an initial call of someone possibly missing Wednesday night, and the Oak Ridge Police Department called the Oak Ridge Fire Department to help locate the stranded occupants of the boat, authorities said.
The people in the boat were able to stay in touch with dispatchers using a cell phone. Someone in the boat had a flashlight, and they used it to help alert rescuers to their location. They told dispatchers they could see a bridge. Rescuers thought that must be either the Edgemoor Road or Solway bridge.
The boat’s occupants reported being in a cove near houses, said ORFD Firefighter and Engineer George Carroll.
Firefighters on an ORFD boat launched from Solway Park and searched the area between the Bull Run Fossil Plant and Freels Bend, Carroll said.
Eventually, rescuers were able to find the two men and two women on the boat about two coves upriver from Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge
The motor on the boat had stopped working, and the battery had been drained, meaning the boat’s running lights weren’t working, Carroll said.
He said the occupants of the boat had tried, unsuccessfully, to flag down a passing boat.
When the ORFD found them, the four adults boarded the rescue boat, and firefighters towed the stranded boat back to Solway Park, arriving there with its occupants at about 12:45 a.m. Thursday.
No one was injured in the boat rescue.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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