Rescue crews are searching for two teenage brothers who went missing while duck hunting in a popular boating area near Lake Oroville over the weekend.
Wesley Cornett, 17, and Andruw Cornett, 19, were reported missing Saturday while at the Thermalito Afterbay in Oroville, the Butte County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post. The afterbay, located between Highway 70 and Highway 99, is part of the Oroville-Thermalito Complex; it allows use of motorized boats and jet skis, as well as swimming and hunting.
The teenagers went missing after one of them overturned a kayak and the other swam into the water to try to find him, the sheriff's office said. Multiple law enforcement agencies across Northern California are looking for the brothers, including marine units from several nearby sheriff's offices and personnel from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Cal Fire.
As of 11:40 a.m. Tuesday, the sheriff's office said multiple boats were still searching for the boys. Members of the public have volunteered to help, but officials said they are not looking for assistance at this time. The stonewalling seems to have frustrated some members of the community, who have commented on the updates from the sheriff's office, questioning why authorities are not accepting the help and suggesting people do their own searches of the afterbay anyway.
Officials told KRCR-TV that at the time of the boating accident, the water temperature was below 50 degrees. Brian Evans, the search-and-rescue coordinator for the sheriff's office, told the outlet the search is now a "recovery" effort.
SFGATE reached out to the Butte County Sheriff's Office for additional information but did not hear back.