LANGLEY — Emergency officials say the search for victims of flash floods that swept through a popular Arkansas campground and killed 18 people has ended for the night.
Arkansas State Police say crews called off their search around 8 p.m. Saturday but plan to resume their work around 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
UPDATED 9:56 p.m.
An 18th body was discovered midafternoon north of Albert Pike Campground in Polk County after deadly flooding on the Little Missouri River, said Capt. Mike Fletcher of the Arkansas State Police.
UPDATED 6:12 p.m.
Rescue teams have been through the entirety of a 20-mile targeted area of the Little Missouri River at least once Saturday, but have only recovered one additional body and no survivors, police said at a late afternoon briefing.
Authorities stressed that hope remains for families anxiously awaiting word about missing loved ones. At least 18 people were killed in the early Friday morning flash floods at the Albert Pike Recreational Area and 23 others remain unaccounted for.
C.J. Norvell, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said the effort has not shifted from a rescue mission to a recovery one.
"I don't want to go there," she said. "We still are very hopeful we will find people or find people have left the area ... and just haven't notified us they are safe."
Arkansas State Police Capt. Mike Fletcher said the list of unaccounted campers had been over 30, but it decreased as police learned some of those on it had left on their own.
"We don't know," he said of the remaining 23. "They may be at home."
Earlier Saturday, officials released the names of the 17 people killed. Fletcher said the names of the 23 missing people may be released later.
Rescue teams, meanwhile, are working the final hours of a search through debris-ridden forestry amid a triple-digit head index.
The search was set to end at dark before resuming Sunday.
"These guys have got to have some rest," Fletcher said.