SEARCH FOR MISSING MAN CONTINUES

Law enforcement agencies with high-tech equipment continued to search the Red River on Thursday night and all day Friday for a missing Little River County, Ark., man except for breaks during thunderstorms.

Dugan Ward is missing after his parents were rescued from the swift floodwaters of the Red River near the Richmond community outside of Ashdown.

Steve and Dee Dee Ward were found about 8 a.m. Thursday holding onto a gate in the flood-

water of the Red River about.

Helicopter pilots Don Ruggles of Texarkana and Weldon Garrison of Ashdown did an aerial search along the Red River. Ruggles is a retired Army aviator and owner of Helicopters Southwest.

Thursday night, the Arkansas State Police helicopter searched the area using an infrared camera.

Ruggles feels Dugan Ward may be surviving.

“I personally think the young man is probably still alive in the high water. One of my helicopters is equipped with an infrared camera, and Weldon Garrison … thought he could make out a heat signature that possibly could be the body of the young man very near where his little dog was found,” Ruggles said in an email message to the Texarkana Gazette.

Dugan Ward is hearing impaired and may not realize helicopters are flying nearby.

“Since the young man is deaf, he is unable to hear the helicopters above, (and) therefore cannot wave unless he visually sees a helicopter overhead,” Ruggles said.

“At dusk (Wednesday night), the water was only knee- or waist-deep, therefore he and his parents could walk, though the water quite a distance, but after dark and without a compass, they had no sense of direction, therefore he possibly could have drifted into the river itself, and if that happened, no doubt he will probably never be found, but since they said he was a very strong man, I think he is still perhaps up in a tree somewhere in that area,” Ruggles said.

Several law enforcement agencies have joined the search. Six Arkansas Game & Fish boats equipped with electronic equipment including sonar are being used, and federal game and fish officials, state police and the Foreman and Richmond Volunteer Fire Department, Deputy Sheriff Rowdy Green said.

The family launched a boat about 7 p.m. Wednesday to check their property as the floodwaters rose.

The trio did not return, and a relative contacted the sheriff’s department about 6:25 a.m. Thursday to report they had not returned home, prompting the search.

Search and rescue efforts continued Friday night between storms.

“Prayers are needed for the family and this young man, the workers and volunteers,” Sheriff Gary Gregory said.