Search continues for South Jersey contractor who fell into Big Timber Creek
Officials say the man lost his footing on an embankment and fell into the water Wednesday afternoon.
A “large-scale” search has shifted to a recovery mission after a contractor who fell into a river in South Jersey Wednesday afternoon.
Officials said the man lost his footing on an embankment and fell into Big Timber Creek around 1:30 p.m. while he was doing work on a property on Edgewater Avenue in Westville, Gloucester County.
The man, who authorities have yet to identify, had not been found by Wednesday evening.
Westville Police Chief Michael Packer said a person at the home saw the contractor in the water and tried to offer him a line to pull him out.
“Unfortunately he wasn’t able to grab it,” Packer said. “The caller called 911 and lost sight of where he was in the water.”
Dive and marine teams from Gloucester, Camden and Cumberland Counties shifted their search-and-rescue efforts into a recovery mission Wednesday evening. Westville fire and police departments are coordinating the search.
Officials said the swift current and murky conditions are made the search more difficult.
Big Timber Creek is nearly six miles long and flows northwest from Glendora into the Delaware River.