A search that stretched across two days on the Waccamaw River ended Thursday morning when the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources recovered the body of a boater who went missing after his vessel struck a submerged object near Murrells Inlet. The man's body was found not far from where the boat crashed, close to Prince Creek in the Blackmoor area, according to rescue officials.
The crash happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday when the boat hit something in the river, sending two people into the water, according to The Sun News. Brennan Moore, assistant chief of training and operations with Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Rescue, said the surviving boater told rescue crews he had seen John Rabon floating down the river. The other boater was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay, Moore said. As reported by Post and Courier, the response drew in Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Rescue, Horry County Fire Rescue, the Horry County Police Department, TowBoatUS, and SCDNR.
Emergency responders believe the boat struck a submerged log near Prince Creek in the Blackmoor area, per Murrells Inlet Patch. Search commanders set up their staging area at a private boat ramp near the Blackmoor Golf Club on Longwood Drive, the same stretch of river where the surviving boater was located when emergency calls came in around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the outlet's report notes.
Sonar and Drones Guided the Overnight Search
Crews spent all day Wednesday combing the water with aerial drones and side-scan sonar before pausing operations overnight, the same report states. Dive teams resumed the search the next morning, and an SCDNR boat located the missing man's body shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday. Crews continued the underwater search throughout the effort, according to the same account. Authorities identified the missing boater as John Rabon, 66, of Aynor.
Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Rescue, the district that led the initial response, is a special-purpose agency created in 1966 that covers roughly 25 square miles spanning Horry and Georgetown counties, according to the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District. The district maintains dedicated water rescue units, including rescue boats and jet skis, and operates four stations.
A Previous Fatal Crash on the Waccamaw
A separate fatal recreational boating crash occurred on the Waccamaw River in Horry County earlier this year. On May 8, 19-year-old Canon Burkett of Conway was killed in the crash, an incident the Horry County Coroner's Office identified as the county's first recreational boating fatality of 2026, according to MyrtleBeachSC News. That crash also left two other passengers critically injured.
Local emergency personnel undergo specialized boat operation training for the Waccamaw River, according to Horry County Fire Rescue. The river stretches 140 miles through coastal North and South Carolina, and submerged timber remains a recurring hazard along its length. A similar tragedy played out in July 2023, when multi-agency search teams that included SCDNR and local fire rescue crews recovered the body of 72-year-old Pawleys Island resident Fred Walters from the river in Georgetown County after his boat was found idling unmanned, according to Carolina Sportsman.
What South Carolina Law Requires After a Crash
SCDNR was involved in the incidents described above. The article also discusses reporting after a crash and recreational-vessel safety equipment, with links to eRegulations and the Campfire Collective.
It remains unclear whether SCDNR's investigation into Wednesday's crash will address life jacket use at the time of impact, or whether recent water levels contributed to the submerged hazard near Prince Creek. Whether state or local officials will issue updated navigational advisories for the Waccamaw River following this second fatality of the season also remains an open question as the investigation continues.
