Search For Missing Boater Continues Sunday

Missing Rescue Rescue crews are looking for a Mobile man after his boat went down near Fort Morgan.

by Chad Petri

Published: Sat, May 30, 2009 - 6:46 pm CST Last Updated: Sat, May 30, 2009 - 8:05 pm CST

Nursing an injured foot and exhausted from swimming and worry, Paul Houseknecht describes his night.

“We started fishing and everything just went bad,” he says. Paul, his brother-in-law Chris Harris and Harris's son Michael went fishing Friday night near Fort Morgan. The three took their boat to an oil rig in Mobile Bay Friday night. Things were okay until around midnight.

“Then water come over the bow of the boat and it put more water in and it made the motor sink deeper in the water next thing i know a big wave drown the motor out and it quit,” says Paul. The boat started to sink and the three had to abandon ship. Through dark, scary waters Michael and Paul made it to shore. Rescue crews spent much of Saturday looking for Chris Harris. Paul says he was worried he wasn’t going to make it to land, but he kept thinking about his family. Officials say the two that made it had nature on their side.

“The current was flowing back toward Fort Morgan peninsula cause two of the individuals did make it back to the shore,” says Michael Coleman with the Alabama Marine Police. Paul hurt his foot in his escape. He says he hit the side of the boat as he dove into the water. The family set up camp at the peer for much of the morning as they hoped Chris Harris would have a safe return.

8:55 pm Update: Officials with the Alabama Marine Police have called off their search for the night. They found the sunken boat earlier this afternoon at the bottom of the bay.

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