Border Patrol Agent From Washington Found Dead

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By By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

The body of 29-year-old Ferndale man was found after his boat capsized in Texas.

Story Published: Sep 21, 2004 at 4:03 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 1:34 AM PDT

Border Patrol Agent From Washington Found Dead
LOS INDIOS, TEXAS - The bodies of two Border Patrol agents were found early Tuesday in the Rio Grande, some 36 hours after swirling currents in the unusually rough river capsized their boat, agency officials said.

At a late morning news conference, Border Patrol Sector Chief Ramon Ortega called for a moment of silence for Senior Border Patrol Agents Travis W. Attaway, 31, of D'Hanis, Texas; and 29-year-old Jeremy Wilson of Ferndale, Wash.

"Both of these agents will be remembered as hard-charging, dedicated agents," Ortega said.

Wilson was a third-generation Border Patrol agent. His father is a retired Border Patrol supervisor and his grandfather spent his early career in the Rio Grande Valley. Both spent most of their career patrolling the border with Canada.

Attaway, from a small town about 50 miles west of San Antonio, was remembered for his participation in bike and horse as well as boat patrols.

Both men were single and in their seventh year of service.

It is the first on-duty drowning on the Rio Grande in at least 50 years, officials said.

The boat overturned Sunday afternoon near the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios, about 98 river miles from the mouth of the river.

A third man on the boat, Capt. Javier Sandoval, was rescued when agents on a second boat heard a distress call and threw out some ropes. Sandoval was released Tuesday from Valley Baptist Medical Center. Ortega said officials had not yet interviewed Sandoval about the accident.

Dozens of local, state and federal agencies assisted in an exhaustive 10-mile search for the men, even dragging portions of the river bottom. Mexican forces assisted by searching the river's south side.

By late Monday, officials using weighted dummies determined that a dam submerged by unusually high waters had created a whirlpool effect that was likely trapping the bodies. Both bodies floated up in that area between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Tuesday, within 60 yards of one another and near the accident site.

Texas Parks & Wildlife and The U.S. Coast Guard were investigating the accident.

"As of right now there doesn't appear to be anything that was operational error, foul play, or anything like that, but we are investigating," Parks & Wildlife Lt. Game Warden Alan Teague said.

Teague said information was "unavailable" as to whether life jackets were on the bodies when they surfaced.

The currents carried the 19-foot boat more than four miles downstream before it was recovered. By the time it was brought from the water, the river had gutted all but the motor and steering wheel.

Recent rains had raised the river by a foot, and current speeds were measured at 5,000 gallons a second.

Ortega said that "compared to a trickle" two years ago, when South Texas was in its tenth year of drought and nonnative river weeds so clogged the river that boat patrols were impossible.

He said the Border Patrol might find lessons in the accident review.

"We've got to continue to secure the nation's borders, that's not going to stop," he said. "If it requires more training, we'll do more training. If it's a safety issue, if we did things wrong, we'll address that."