NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — For the third time in less than two weeks, Nashville first responders have recovered the body of someone who went missing out on Percy Priest Lake.
The Nashville Fire Department (NFD) told News 2 that crews were dispatched to the 12200 block of Old Hickory Boulevard on Sunday, June 4 for reports of a water rescue.
According to officials, a caller told a dispatcher they weren’t sure if somebody had already called 911, but said someone went in the water and hadn’t been seen for about 15 minutes.
After checking with others at the scene, the caller reportedly confirmed the person had not been seen exiting or coming up from the water.
The department said crews launched a boat while personnel on land started to investigate, determining there was a limited number of ways someone could access the area where the callers were.
NFD said units from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) found an abandoned boat in “an additional part of the cove.”
Meanwhile, NFD crews “spoke with a person claiming to last see the individual go under the water,” a department official, Kendra Loney, told News 2, adding that both teams marked off the area.
According to NFD, the rescue mission was reclassified as a recovery mission at the one-hour mark, which was around 5 p.m.
At 5:07 p.m., officials said divers from the Nashville Office of Emergency Management (OEM) were on the way to the lake to search for the missing person, but they would be under special advisement due to the National Weather Service’s thunderstorm warning.
However, at 5:40 p.m., the fire department reported that crews from NFD, TWRA, and Nashville OEM had retreated and taken shelter because dispatch reported lightning strikes.
“They are all still launched in their boats, just not actively searching in the water at this time,” Loney said in a statement to News 2. “They will resume efforts when/if the storm cells pass.”
About two hours later, Nashville OEM tweeted that its divers, as well as personnel from NFD and TWRA, recovered the person who was last seen going underwater near Cooks Recreational Area on Percy Priest Lake around 4 p.m.
No additional information has been released about Sunday’s incident.
This news comes after Nashville first responders recovered the bodies of two missing swimmers from Percy Priest Lake within a 48-hour period in late May.
