UPDATE: 2 p.m. – The body of missing swimmer Graham Springer was found in the Walnut River.
Around 1 p.m., search crews pulled a rescue boat from the river that contained Springer’s body, which was found near an area where he’d first gone missing.
The 23-year-old man’s body was covered in a white sheet that was covered by a blue tarp and an additional white sheet.
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UPDATE: 8:45 a.m. – Search crews continue to look for Graham Springer this morning.
Family at the scene said they were becoming convinced that the man had not survived. They were told that crews had searched the bank for footprints or signs of someone leaving the water and had found none.
Winfield firefighters continued the search in two boats and were joined by a boat from Ark City.
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He didn’t know how to swim, or at least not very well.
Friends and family of a swimmer who went missing in the Walnut River near the Winfield Fairground late Friday said the young man wasn’t good in the water. Search crews continued to look for him well into Saturday morning.
Using boats, two teams of emergency personnel dragged the river bottom trying to locate the missing man, who is believed to be in his early 20s. His name has yet to be released by authorities but family said his name was Graham Springer.
Just before midnight, police, fire and EMS crews were called to the fairground’s pecan grove after receiving a report of people in distress in the river, authorities said. One man was located in the water and brought safely to shore but a second person could not be found.
By 12:15 a.m. Saturday, boats were in the water and Winfield fire department personnel were searching in a location where the missing man last had been seen.
Large search lights illuminated the water and emergency response vehicles flooded the grove with activity. Family of the missing man arrived throughout the night and some walked the banks with flashlights looking for signs of the man.
Authorities and friends said that the group of men had been at the river and decided to go swimming. The darkness and speed of the current apparently played a role in carrying the swimmers farther down stream than they had planned, according to information from the scene.