CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Coastal Bend father is being remembered after he tragically died following a boating accident last weekend on Aransas Bay.
A weekend out on Aransas Bay took a tragic turn for Christopher Whited and a friend. The two were out on their boat when it hit some rough waters. They ended up being ejected from the boat.
"They were talking to each other and they were swimming, but when my brother's friend got to shore, he looked back and didn't see my brother,” said Christopher’s brother James Whited Jr.
Christopher’s friend made it back to shore, but Christopher did not. Once word got out that he was missing, that's when law enforcement, family and the community stepped in searching the area for a full day.
"We had 30 boats on the water between Friday night and Saturday,” said James Whited Jr.
"29 grueling, emotional hours that we had to standby until we found my brother.”
His body discovered right where the accident happened. James Whited Jr. says knowing how close his little brother was the whole time during the search shattered his heart.
"We had passed over my brother two or three times and didn't even know it,” said James Whited Jr. “It was only a seven-foot, 7.3 foot of water and we had passed over two or three times.”
What eventually helped find Christopher's body was a side scan sonar. It gives a clear view of what's below the surface, but there was only one of these available during the body recovery.
That's why James Whited Jr. created a GoFundMe page his goal is to purchase more of these devices and then donate them to other search crews so no other family will have to go through what his did. Cutting down those long grueling hours during a recovery mission.
"It will bring other families closure because we would’ve never had our closure if it hadn't been for that technology on the Game Wardens boat,” said James Whited Jr. So far they been able to raise over 16-thousand dollars.
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