Search continues for Madison Central football player missing on Lake Herrington

UPDATE: (06/11/2020 12:30 p.m.)

BOYLE COUNTY, KY. (WTVQ) – The search for Emanuel Prewitt continues on Lake Herrington between Harrodsburg and Danville in Boyle County, according to Mike Wilder, Director of the Office of Emergency Management in Danville and Boyle County.

Wilder said search crews were back on the water at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Wilder says they hope to locate Prewitt’s body but will cease recovery operations by dark Thursday night if they are unsuccessful. Wilder says that will likely be around 8 or 9 p.m.

The teens were jumping off the concrete pillars of the old lock and swimming to the island when Prewitt disappeared, Wilder said. The area is near Coffey’s Cove Marina.

The area is not near a road and the teens walked there, apparently. It once was a popular spot but now is accessible only by boat or foot, Wilder said.

Water in the area is 120 feet deep and murky and has strong currents, making it dangerous for swimmers and divers. The hazard for divers is the reason searchers are using sonar and other remote devices to comb the area. Four boats are involved in the search.

The incident marks the fourth likely drowning in the region in the last two weeks, including one in Jessamine County, one in Russell County at the southern end of Lake Cumberland, one in Wolfe County and his case.

ORIGINAL STORY

BOYLE COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – A rising senior football player at Madison Central High School is missing on popular Lake Herrington and presumed drowned, according to Boyle County fire officials.

The Madison Central football team held a prayer vigil at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Tates Creek Baptist Church for a prayer vigil for Emanuel Prewitt.

Fire officials got a call at about 5:30 p.m. that a group friends, including Prewitt, tried to swim from the bank to Gwinn Island, a distance of about 300 yards, according to fire officials.

The 17-year-old Prewitt made it about halfway, went under and wasn’t seen again.

Rescue crews are searching using mostly sonar because of poor water conditions and visibility. Water at the point where he was last seen is about 120 feet deep, fire officials told WTVQ ABC 36 News.

The area is north of Danville and southeast of Harrodsburg.

The search was called off Wednesday night because of dark and will resume Thursday morning.

Herrington Lake is a 2,335-acre artificial lake located in Mercer, Garrard and Boyle counties. The lake was created by Kentucky Utilities’ damming of the Dix River, a tributary of the Kentucky River, in 1925 to generate hydroelectric power.