The body of a missing dredge operator was recovered Wednesday evening, nearly 24 hours after he and two other men -- who were rescued immediately -- fell into the Christina River in Delaware when the barge they were on capsized.
The United States Coast Guard and various rescue crews scoured the river in Wilmington, Del. until the body of Emmanuel Gatling Jr., a dredge maintenance operator for Norfolk Dredging, was found around 5:30 p.m., according to officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Gatling Jr. and two other Norfolk employees were dumped into the river just before 7:30 Tuesday night as they moved anchors in the Wilmington Harbor Channel -- a routine job performed on a regular basis to reposition the barge, said Charlie Myers of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The other men were rescued immediately. It is believed that Gatling Jr. got tangled in equipment while underwater, according to Myers.
Norfolk Dredging is a company contracted out by the Army Corps of Engineers.
"We are all very upset," said Myers. "We work with these folks everyday and they are like family."
