Three dead, two missing after people rafting on North Carolina river plunge over dam

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three people are dead and two more are missing after they rode inflated tubes over a dam on the Dan River in Rockingham County.

The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office reported the deaths overnight and said it was continuing a “search and rescue operation” Friday along the river “from the Duke Energy plant to the Va. state line.”

Investigators have not released the names of the people involved.

The incident happened around sunset and the five were part of a larger group of nine people who were swept over the dam, the Associated Press says. The site is near the Eden community, along the Virginia state line.

Station WGHP reports the nine were members of the same family.

Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates told the Greensboro News & Record the four rescued people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They were seen in the river “hanging onto various items” to stay afloat before being rescued, WTVD said.

None of the rescued tubers were wearing life jackets when they were pulled from the river, the News & Record said. The four included “a 14-year-old boy, his uncle, and two cousins,” WGHP said.

Rafting and tubing is a popular and common recreation on the river, “but most get out and walk around the dam, which is marked by signs,” Cates told the Associated Press.