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 |
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