Drowning Victim Recovered by St. Louis County, MN, Sheriff's Office Rescue Squad
Location and Recovery was Rapid and Safe Using Newly Acquired Technology
Price County, WI (PRWEB) June 10, 2005 -- The body of Andrew Lovell was
recovered on Saturday, May 28th, with the assistance of cutting edge underwater
technology. The 30 year old Wisconsin resident had been fishing in Butternut
Lake on May 23rd when his unoccupied fishing boat was spotted by his fiancé
during the evening hours.
Several agencies responded and were faced with
searching an area several acres in size. Divers made 30 separate dives but the
large search area and poor visibility made this work difficult. The Price County
Sheriff's Office contacted the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office in Duluth,
Minnesota for assistance.
"We had recently received a new side scan sonar
and were planning on utilizing it with our drowning recoveries", said Dave
Phillips, St. Louis County Undersheriff. "We have had success with body recovery
and scene investigation with our VideoRay Remotely Operated Vehicle, and were
looking to integrate side-scan sonar into our operations." The City of Duluth,
Minnesota, had recently assisted the St. Louis County Rescue Squad in obtaining
the Side Scan Sonar by utilizing funds from a Homeland Security
grant.
Members of the St. Louis County Sheriff's Volunteer Rescue Squad
and Sheriff's office staff worked with the Price County Sheriff's Office,
Butternut Fire Department and Dive Team in the recovery effort. One boat was set
up with the Marine Sonic Technology, Ltd. (http://www.marinesonic.com/ ) side scan sonar, while another
boat was equipped with the VideoRay, LLC (http://www.videoray.com ) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV); a
small 8 pound underwater robot equipped with a scanning sonar and video
capability. The two boats worked together in the recovery effort: First, the
side scan sonar was deployed and operators identified suspicious "hits" on the
bottom and relayed this information to the squad members on the ROV
boat.
One image collected by the Sea Scan PC with a 900kHz tow-fish left
little doubt that the victim had been located. The VideoRay ROV confirmed this,
provided video forensic evidence, and led divers to the victim so they could
recover Mr. Lovell. After 4 ˝ hours, the body of Andrew Lovell was
located.
"We were glad to have helped on this operation. This was an
agonizing, difficult time for the family and emergency responders", Phillips
stated. Numerous agencies had participated in the efforts over the past week
including the Price County Sheriff, Ashland County Sheriff, Butternut Fire and
Rescue, Butternut Dive Team, Park Falls Fire and Police.
For more
information, contact: Dave Phillips, Undersheriff, St. Louis County Sheriff's
Office, Duluth, MN, Phone: 218.726.2339, e-mail: e-mail protected from spam
bots.
Chris Gibson e-mail protected from spam bots, VideoRay LLC,
Director, Marketing, Phone: 610.458.3000.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb249586.htm