CLEVELAND — Coast Guard crews are searching near the mouth of the Clinton River in Lake St. Clair for a man who was last seen going under water and not resurfacing Monday evening.
Just after 7:30 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a report that two men had jumped into the water from their 21-foot pleasure craft to assist a woman in their group who had become fatigued while swimming at the mouth of the Clinton River. After assisting the woman, all three people began to swim back to the boat when one of the men went under the water and did not resurface. A nearby good Samaritan rescued the other two people.
Sector Detroit directed the launch of a boat crew from Coast Guard Station St. Clair Shores, Michigan, aboard a 25-foot response boat and an aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit aboard a Dolphin helicopter to search the area.
The Macomb County Sheriff’s Marine Division, with side-scan sonar and a dive team, and Customs and Border Protection also responded to the distress call.
The response boat crew arrived on scene within 15 minutes and began searching. The helicopter crew arrived shortly after and began their search as well.
CBP, the MCSMD and the Coast Guard aircrew all suspended their search activities around sunset, with plans to resume Tuesday morning.
The Station St. Clair Shores crew continued to search the area until 2 a.m., at which time, due to crew fatigue, they switched crew members who continued to search the area.
At around 6 a.m., an Air Station Detroit crew resumed searching the area and MCSMD crews resumed as well. The second Station St. Clair Shores crew was replaced just before 8 a.m., by a Coast Guard Auxiliary crew aboard a 33-foot patrol boat.
At about 10:30 a.m., Coast Guard air and MCMD dive crews temporarily suspended their search efforts due to weather restrictions.
So far, a total of four search patterns have been conducted by air and five search patterns have been conducted by boat with no sightings.
