Search and Rescue Crews Find One Boater Alive and Another Deceased on Toledo Bend

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) enforcement agents are investigating a fatal boating incident that occurred in Sabine Parish on March 4.

The body of Alfred D. Jackson, 52, of Lake Charles, was recovered from Toledo Bend around 6 p.m. on March 4.

Search and rescue crews from LDWF, Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office and Texas Parks and Wildlife received a call around 3 p.m. on March 4 about two men that were in the water after their vessel sank.

The crews immediately began searching the area.  Texas Parks and Wildlife personnel found the men in the water around 6 p.m. with one of them still alive.  The survivor was brought to the shore and airlifted to a Shreveport Hospital for severe hypothermia.  Jackson’s body was turned over to the Sabine Parish Coroner’s Office to determine an official cause of death.

LDWF will be the lead investigative agency for this fatal boating incident.  The men were in a 20 foot vessel when high winds caused high waves that swamped their boat causing it to sink.  Both men were found wearing personal flotation devices.

According to Sabine Parish Sheriff Aaron Mitchell, waves from high winds are believed to have caused a boat to sink on the south end of Toledo Bend Lake Saturday afternoon.

Two men in their 50s from Lake Charles were headed to the Pirates Cove area from the Texas side when the incident occurred.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department located one man holding on to a stump and the other man apparently drowned. Both were wearing personal flotation devices. The boat has not been recovered at this time.

The survivor was air-lifted to a Shreveport hospital and treated for hypothermia. The other man was taken to Shreveport for an autopsy.

Wildlife Agents, Sabine Parish Sheriff Deputies, and Texas Authorities were among the agencies who searched for the men and vessel.

The accident is under investigation by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries.