California search teams have been tirelessly looking for two teenage brothers that went missing while duck hunting.
Andruw and Wesley Cornett, 19 and 17, were last seen near the Thermalito Afterbay in Butte County on the morning of December 14 – the same day strong winds and heavy rain left 5,000 people across Butte County with no power, Action News Now reported.
April Clark, the teens’ mother, described the moments leading up to their disappearances.
Clark wrote in a GoFundMe post that Wesley went into the water on a kayak to catch a duck, but trouble arose when the boat overturned.
Andruw called 911 and said there was ‘no time to wait, he was going to save his brother,’ she explained.
Neither one of them have been seen since then.
‘The Sheriff is saying this is now a search and recovery so I will have to also plan to lay my two boys to rest,’ Clark declared.
During the first search, the brothers’ belongings and puppy were recovered from the scene, KRCR reported.
Andruw and Wesley Cornett, 19 and 17, were last seen near the Thermalito Afterbay in Butte County on the morning of December 14
Wesley went into the water on a kayak to catch a duck and his brother reportedly went to go save him when the kayak flipped
Search teams have been scouring the water for more than a week since they vanished
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) wrote on Saturday: ‘Approximately 250 people from 21 different organizations have been searching for Wesley and Andruw Cornett since last Saturday, the day the two brothers went missing while duck hunting at the Thermalito Afterbay.’
But the ongoing search efforts, conducted by deputies, detectives, the BCSO Aviation and Marine Unit, and BCSO Search and Rescue, have been challenging.
In a video posted on Saturday, documenting these search efforts, Jeff Eggleson of Big Valley Divers said: ‘The most difficult thing we’re having to get through the weeds.
‘We got the diver on the bottom, he’s in about 15 feet of water and the weeds vary from about three feet to about 10 feet of weeds.
‘So the hardest part is just making our way through those.’
He added that those weeds are also hindering the effectiveness of Sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) technology that could help locate the teens.
Eggleson highlighted another obstacle – the water’s low visibility.
‘Visibility is very low so it ranges from about six inches to about four, five, six feet.’
Hundreds of people from 21 different organizations stepped up to help look for the brothers
The brother’s devastated mother said she ‘will have to also plan to lay my two boys to rest’
According to their Facebook page, they have sent boats into the water on several occasions.
The community has been rallying behind the heartbroken mother. People were apparently calling the sheriff’s office to ask if they could volunteer to find Andruw and Wesley.
‘Please do NOT call our dispatch center asking about volunteering to help,’ the sheriff’s office wrote on December 17.
‘We appreciate it, but at this time we are not requesting assistance from the public.’
However, the circumstances have changed since then.
According to a video posted on Facebook yesterday, the teens’ parents are asking for volunteers to step up and continue the search, as law enforcement agencies are wrapping up their efforts.
Member of nonprofit search team Angels Recovery Jared Foster said: ‘Here we are, going into the holidays and we’re still looking for their two sons.
Jared Foster and the brother’s parents urged volunteers to help keep search efforts going even though law enforcement agencies have to stop
April Clark said the ‘freak accident’ that caused her sons to go missing has shocked her entire family
‘Volunteer divers are gonna keep going, so if you are in this area or close by and you have a boat with Sonar, camera equipment, if you’re a diver, we need more people on the water.’
‘This is a freak accident that my family and I are trying to wrap our heads around,’ Clark wrote.
She added that a Toyota Amphitheater, where her two sons used to work, promised to match however much the GoFundMe page raises. So far, Clark has received nearly $23,000.
