3 dead, 2 missing after tubers go over North Carolina dam

EDEN, N.C. (AP) — Three people are dead and two remain missing after a group floating down a North Carolina river on inflatable tubes went over a dam, authorities said Thursday.

Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates told reporters that a group of nine people tubing on the Dan River went over the Duke Energy dam in Eden around sunset on Wednesday. A Duke Energy employee who saw some of the tubers called the situation in to 911 Thursday afternoon, Cates said.

Cates did not release the identities of the three people who died.

The Dan River in North Carolina is seen snaking through the forest below as I fly over. The Dan River flows 214 miles in North Carolina and Virginia. It rises in Patrick County, Virginia, and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it back into Virginia through only Pittsylvania County before reentering North Carolina near the border between Caswell County and Rockingham County. It flows into northern Caswell County and then back into southern Virginia (briefly Pittsylvania County, then into Halifax County) and finally into Kerr Reservoir on the Roanoke River.

Four other people were rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that Cates said were not life-threatening. Two more remained missing Thursday night.

Boats and helicopters were used in the search in the county north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line.

Cates said it's not immediately clear why the tubers didn't contact authorities sooner, but he said it may have been because they didn't have phones with them.

He said it's not unusual for people to float the river on tubes or rafts in the area but most get out and walk around the dam, which is marked by signs. The dam is approximately 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall, he said.

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