Body of fourth tuber found in N.C. river

EDEN, N.C. — The body of a fourth tuber has been found in a North Carolina river after a deadly accident in which a family on a recreational float went over a dam, local officials said Sunday.

The Rockingham County sheriff’s office said in a news release that authorities received a 911 call about 10 a.m. reporting a body in the Dan River near a boat landing in the town of Eden.

The sheriff’s office said crews have begun efforts to recover the body. The victim’s identity is yet to be confirmed. Two tubers had been missing — a 7-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman.

One tuber now remains missing after Wednesday night’s accident. A group of nine people were floating down the river on inflatable tubes when they went over a dam. Four people were rescued Thursday, while three tubers’ bodies were found that day.

The group went over a dam that’s about 8 feet high next to a Duke Energy plant. Boating experts told The News & Record in Greensboro that such low-head dams are notorious for trapping people in the powerful current that churns at their base.

Dan Riverkeeper Steven Pulliam of Stoneville told the newspaper that he wonders if recent rains created mud that obscured a portage area where boaters and tubers can exit and walk around the dam’s powerful currents.