Chances of survival low after more than a day in 56-degree water

Two unidentifed Colcord, Oklahoma teens talk with reporters after surviving a house boat fire. Photo courtesy: KXTV - Sacramento, CA FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities

Wednesday, March 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Two unidentifed Colcord, Oklahoma teens talk with reporters after surviving a house boat fire. Photo courtesy: KXTV - Sacramento, CA

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say the chances of survival for an Oklahoman and two others missing since their boat burned and sank are low if they remained in the 56 degree waters of the Sacramento River Delta.

A fisherman rescued five people from the water about 2 a.m. Tuesday after he saw that their 29-foot boat, the Robby Lin, was on fire.

The Coast Guard and Solano County Sheriff's Department picked up the search for the other three boaters: Wilburn and Barbara Thompson of Turlock, 54 and 56, respectively, and Keith Washington, 15, of Colcord, Okla., who was vacationing here with five friends.

Wilburn Thompson is the manager of a Diamond Walnut Growers plant in Modesto. No one in the boat escaped with a life jacket.

The search was suspended for the night after dusk Tuesday, and the Coast Guard said it wouldn't resume the search today. Sheriff's deputies were set to continue on the chance that the boaters may have made it to shore.

Those rescued were all from Colcord: John Blakfox, 18; James Mitchell, 16; Cecil Sixkiller, 16; James Payton, 17; and Payton's father, Elmer Payton, 57, said sheriff's spokesman Gary Faulkner.

The elder Payton was burned and was treated at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The teens were treated for minor injuries and released.

The sheriff's office was investigating the cause of the fire.