DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709280103

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: SMITHFIELD                        LENGTH:   24 lines

ONE MAN DEAD, ONE MISSING IN JAMES RIVER

One man died, another was missing and a third was rescued on Saturday after a small boat capsized on the James River, the Coast Guard said.

The names of the three men were being withheld until relatives could be notified.

The survivor reported that the 19-foot boat's engine had failed and that water coming over the stern swamped the vessel about 11 a.m., near the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge, Petty Officer Blair Thomas, a Coast Guard spokesman, said.

The survivor, who was picked up just before 3 p.m., said the boat sank immediately after it overturned. He was the only one aboard wearing a life jacket.

Boats from the Coast Guard and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission searched the river for the missing mariners and the craft.

About 6 p.m., the body of one boater was found. The search for the other continued. There was no sign of the capsized boat. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOAT FATALITY RESCUE

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