Search For Missing Swimmer Suspended

Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services have suspended the search for the missing swimming at Buford Dam Park for the moment.

According to a press release from Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services, despite an intensive search by several agencies, efforts to locate the victim have been unsuccessful. Crews for the Gwinnett Swift Water Team, Dawson County Emergency Services K9, Forsyth County and Hall County dive teams, the Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers joined in the search.

"The rescuers performed several dives in an effort to locate the victim," Lt. Eric Eberly, public information officer for GCFES said in a press release. "However, the search was called off due to divers exhausting the search area. The Incident commander, with other authorities, will determine the next course of action early tomorrow morning."

Eberly said, due to jurisdictional and resource issues, GCFES remained the lead agency in the search instead of it being turned over to the DNR.

GCFES began looking for the missing swimming after being called to the location at about 8 p.m. Saturday night. Friends said they had last seen the man wading in the water at about 6 p.m. He reportedly couldn't swim and was not wearing a life jacket. Although authorities located what they thought was a body under the surface, it was out of reach. The Hall County Dive Team was called in to assist, but the search was called off when the victim could not be located. The search resumed Sunday, also without success.