Tragedy struck local communities last week when the body of Shem Bowman, 27, of Holbrook was pulled from the waters near the Chevlon Canyon Bridge.
According to Tyler Rice, public information officer with the Joseph City Fire District, at approximately 5 p.m. on Friday, June 3, Joseph City firefighters along with the Winslow Fire Department and the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the area of Chevlon Canyon Bridge, located on Territorial Road between Joseph City and Winslow for a suspected drowning.
Witnesses saw Bowman go into the water and not resurface. Divers from JCFD, WFD and Puerco Valley EMS entered the water and attempted to locate Bowman but due to poor visibility in the water and fading daylight, divers were unable to locate him at that time.
Search and recovery operations resumed the following morning and his body was discovered late that afternoon on the south side of Chevlon Canyon Bridge along the west canyon wall approximately 25-30 feet under the water.
In total, the agencies involved worked for approximately 11.5 hours to locate his body and a total of seven divers over that time period from the agencies involved.
Rice commented, “Having the ability of special operations like rope rescue and the dive team allow us and our partner agency’s to quickly respond to situations like this with local resources instead of having to rely on other outside resources that take longer to arrive and don’t know our area, adding more time and distress. We were able to bring the family closure and that’s the most important thing for us in these situations. It’s a huge difference to have everything local with local faces.”
