FORT ADAMS — A child and two adults drowned Sunday after a pontoon boat capsized on the Buffalo River in Fort Adams.

A six-year-old boy, his mother and his uncle drowned while reportedly attempting to pull up to a duck blind around 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

The boat began to take on water and overturned, Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chris James said, and the three people became trapped beneath the boat.

One man, a friend of the family, was also on the boat and was able to climb out onto the duck blind and alert authorities to the situation.

Officers with the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Department arrived in the remote location west of Woodville at approximately 7 a.m. and began the search for the missing people.

The bodies of the three individuals were found at approximately 3 p.m. Sunday, after being in the water for nearly nine hours.

Though his assessment was only preliminary, Wilkinson County Coroner Nolan Thompson said the cause of deaths is likely from drowning.

Wilkinson County Emergency Management Director Thomas Tolliver said the loss was tragic.

“It’s overwhelming,” Tolliver said. “When something like this happens, the whole community is affected.”