Day 2: Crews Continue Searching Ocmulgee River for Drowning Victim

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Crews continue to search up and down the Ocmulgee River for the missing swimmer who drowned Monday afternoon.

He is 24-year-old Aaron Austin Cross. Crews stopped working overnight, but they were back out at 7:30 Tuesday and they spent all day searching for him. Even though they haven’t found anything yet, they are not giving up.

“We’re focusing on the general area that we’re in right now,” Sergeant Tony Fox with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said. “We’ll continue to work downstream and upstream to this point. I don’t forsee the victim being very far downstream from this point.”  DNR officers are using sonar equipment to see what’s underneath the water.

“We’ve been using the side scan sonar to try to locate the victim in the river. We don’t know exactly where he’s at so we’re trying to use that to put us in where he may be,” says Fox.

Cross was swimming across the Ocmulgee River Monday afternoon, when he started struggling and called for help. A friend tried to save him, but it was too late. Friends and family waited all day nearby and watched the crews search, all hoping the officers find something.

Officers will continue looking for Cross until they find him, but the search is dangerous. The water temperature is 57 degrees, there is a strong current, and the water level rose two feet overnight. Sgt. Fox says they’re expecting rain sometime this week, which could impact the search effort.

They will back out again searching at 7:30 Wednesday morning. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is bringing out a cadaver dog to help with the search efforts.

Stay with 41NBC for updates on this developing story.