The accident happened Wednesday afternoon along Conasauga Creek in Polk County, about 50 miles northeast of Chattanooga.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Co-Chair Dan Hicks says rescuers hoped to find the missing people clinging to trees or fences along the creek, but hope was fading with the cold weather.
The names of the missing haven't been revealed. Three other children made it safely to a creek bank. All six people in the canoe belonged to one family from Delano, a Mennonite religious community.
No one aboard the canoe was wearing a life preserver.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.