Search continues in Yalobusha County for a drowning victim

YALOBUSHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s day three of the search for 42-year-old Ismael Alvarez of Teasdale, Mississippi.

He disappeared Saturday night, while boating on Enid Lake in Yalobusha County.

“Ismael’s family and friends let me into a secure area reserved for them, along with rescue crews. They’ve been sitting on the bank, in the heat, for days now, just hoping they’ll wake up from this nightmare and see Ismael. But as every hot hour passes out here, they realize that’s less and less likely,” says WCBI reporter, Jason Hibbs.

This is not how Ismael’s family and friends planned on spending the holiday.

Ismael has four kids and an extended family who all live out-of-town.

His neighbor and friend Kevin Kennedy says, while they weren’t related, Ismael felt just like family to him.

“My wife sort of took him in as the son she never had. You couldn’t ask for a better guy.”

In fact, Kennedy says Ismael helped raise his grand-kids and loved being with children in general.

A spokesperson with the Army Corps says they were told Ismael was playing with kids in the water, near one of two boats filled with adult friends when he disappeared.

He says they, along with EMS and local sheriffs departments, are using sonar and divers to search a one-square-mile area of Enid Lake, off the face of the dam.

The Corps says the dam was turned off shortly after the accident was reported.

The dam has not impacted where they’re searching or the expanded search area.

Parts of the lake are 50 feet deep.

So far, dive crews have only come up with some false alarms.

Kennedy, along with the Alvarez family, say they’ll stay out here for as long as it takes.

“If it would’ve happened to one of us, he never would’ve left at night, he’d still be sitting. That’s the kind of person he is, big heart. He wouldn’t leave you.”

“We’ll get this thing resolved here, yeah we’ll find him.”

The spokesperson for the Army Corps says they plan on continuing the search until they find Ismael or have another reason to discontinue.

They’ll search until night and then be back at it Tuesday morning.

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