William Farhat
An area family got a little more closure on their recent tragedy on Thursday night when the body of one of their two missing loved ones was found in the Arkansas River several miles down stream from the site of an April 24 boating accident.
Sequoyah County Sheriff Office officials said the body of 29-year old William Farhat was discovered around 8 p.m. Thursday adjacent to a sandbar in the river near the Garrison Avenue bridge.
The family was notified last night. Sequoyah County officials confirmed the body identification this morning.
Farhat had been missing since the incident, which also took the life of his six year old son Physher. Farhat’s wife and the stepmother of his children was also in the jon boat that overturned near the WD Mayo Lock and Dam near Fort Coffee in a rural area of LeFlore County.
Officials speculate the couple and their children were fishing in an area just about the dam during a Sunday outing when the boat capsized, possible going over the structure in the swift waters.
Four year-old Weston Farhat, who was wearing a life jacket, somehow managed to get out of the river and climb out on the rock banks, managing to escape the ordeal with just cuts and bruises.
The Farhat’s lived in Arkoma and Physher was a student at Singleton Elementary.
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: dennis@greatplainsdigital.com
