“We just hope they can get some closure,” Kuykendall said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
- STORM, W.Va. – In an interview with the Parsons Advocate on Sunday, May 26th, Sgt. Adam Kuykendall of the West Virginia Natural Resources Police confirmed the recovery of two bodies in Mt. Storm Lake in Grant County. The recovery efforts concluded a week long effort following a boating accident on Monday, May 20th.
According to Kuykendall, on Monday the 20th, a single vessel, containing two occupants was on Mt. Storm Lake when the operator lost control around 4:40 p.m. In the incident, both the operator and passenger were ejected from the vessel and submerged into the water, according to Kuykendall. “Last Monday, on May the 20th at 4:40 p.m., we got a complaint of a boating incident on Mt. Storm Lake in Grant County, West Virginia,” Kuykendall said.
Efforts on the lake have been a recovery effort since the day of the incident, according to Kuykendall. The body of the first victim was recovered on Saturday, May 25th around 5 p.m., Kuykendall said. In a follow up phone call to the Parsons Advocate later Sunday evening, Kuykendall confirmed the second victim had been recovered that evening. “We’ve been doing a recovery since Monday,” Kuykendall said.
Kukendall thanked the effort of the community during the recovery effort. “I want to give out a huge thank you to Dominion Power. They’ve been very supportive with their staff and their resources during this operation,” Kuykendall said. “Our DNR Recovery Team, First Responders from Mt. Storm Fire Company, Petersburg Fire Company.”
Kuykendall also thanked the family of the victims for their cooperation during the operation and that there were hopes that the recovery of their family members will bring them closure. “The family has been very courteous during this whole thing,” Kuykendall said. “We just hope they can get some closure.”
Kuykendall said the lake had been closed during the recovery effort, but that the community was being very supportive and understanding during the effort. “I just wanted to give a big thank you to the local community and the public,” Kuykendall said. “We actually shut the lake down for five, six days and the public has really supported that. We haven’t had any issues with that.”
Alcohol was not suspected to be a factor in the incident and the names of the victims have not yet been released, according to Kuykendall. A call to the Charleston Headquarters for further information and identification of victims was unanswered due to the Memorial Day Holiday.