David Sharp, in orange shirt, helps members of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to hook up a sonar unit to their boat prior to the group going out and conducting another sweep of Dalewood Lake for the body of Charles "Chip" Fleming.

    Search and rescue personnel recovered the body of drowning victim Charles “Chip” Fleming Tuesday at about 5:15 p.m. from the waters of Dalewood Lake in northern Lauderdale County.

    For two days search and rescue teams have tried to locate the body of the 42-year-old Scooba man who drowned early Monday morning.

    “The search teams that participated in this search for these two days were great,” said David Sharp, director of the Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency. “The good part about this sort of thing is when you ask for help, it comes in droves. We can’t thank these other agencies enough for coming in and lending their men and material to this.”

    On two occasions Tuesday, Sharp said the search was suspended due to weather moving through the area but the emergency personnel would be right back on the water as soon as the threat of lightening passed.

    At around 11 a.m., divers and emergency personnel from the Columbus Search and Rescue Unit arrived to lend their support. 

    Sharp and other agencies were able to coordinate more sonar and underwater cameras Tuesday to assist in the search for Fleming.

    According to Ward Calhoun, chief deputy of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, the call of a possible drowning victim was dispatched at about 6:40 a.m. Monday. Calhoun says other people on the pontoon barge, including Fleming’s wife, say that Fleming was about 30 feet from the barge when he went under. Sharp says the water depth at the approximate location given by the witnesses is more than 20 feet.

    Members of the LEMA dive teams, personnel with the Philadelphia and Columbus search and rescue teams, along with officers of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks joined Dalewood Lake officials and local volunteer fire departments to conduct the two-day search.

    Authorities with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks will now conduct a fresh water drowning investigation, said Calhoun.