Child Recovered Unharmed After Kayak Trip on Little Wabash River

Watson Fire Protection District reports that they were dispatched to the river just before 10pm Saturday. Firefighters were dispatched in the area of the Mason-Eberle Road to assist the Effingham County Sheriff's Department with a missing persons incident. A man and the 10-year-old had been on a kayak trip when they became separated from the rest of the group. The two got out of the river to continue to an assigned destination on foot, but they did not reach the destination as darkness fell. 

Firefighters then began a joint operation with sheriff's deputies on scene. Shortly after authorities arrived, the man showed up. The man told authorities the boy had stopped walking because he was tired. The man provided a last known location for the boy and authorities began searching in that area, which was several hundred yards away. 

Approximately 10 minutes into the search, Watson fire personnel made voice contact with the child. The area consisted of tall prairie grasses along a soybean field. The boy was located at a nearby residence by a sheriff's deputy. The child had walked to the residence after seeing an outside light on there. Abbott EMS personnel checked the boy's condition and he was judged unharmed.

Watson firefighters and county sheriff's deputies were assisted by personnel from the Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police, along with a nearby resident.

The adult was confirmed by authorities to be 31-year-old Christopher W. French of Ste. Marie. French was cited by sheriff's deputies on a count of endangering the life of a child, and was cited by Department of Natural Resources police for no personal flotation devices in the kayak.