CLEVELAND — Coast Guard crews suspended their search Monday night for a man missing in St. Clair River since Sunday afternoon.
Missing is 19-year-old Brady Morton who was last seen getting off his raft, going under the water and not resurfacing in the vicinity of Malcolm Marine while participating in the Port Huron, Michigan, “Float Down” event.
“Suspending a search and rescue case is an extremely difficult decision to make,” said Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Settel, the assistant command center supervisor at Coast Guard Sector Detroit. “The Coast Guard and partner agencies have exhausted all available resources with the information that was available. Our thoughts and prayers are with Brady’s family and friends.”
Rescue crews searched more than 157 square miles of water.
Just after 4 p.m., Sunday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a report of a missing man in the upper St. Clair River. He was with about 40 friends.
Crews from Coast Guard Station Port Huron, Michigan, aboard a 25-foot response boat and a 45-foot response boat, were already underway to monitor the event and responded along with crews from several other agencies.
Sector Detroit issued an urgent marine information broadcast, advising mariners of the situation, asking them to keep a sharp lookout, to report all sightings to the nearest Coast Guard unit and to assist if possible.
The Coast Guard 9th District Command Center in Cleveland also diverted an aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit aboard a Dolphin helicopter from another case to assist in the search.
Involved in the search were crews from: Coast Guard Station Port Huron; Coast Guard Station St. Clair Shores, Michigan; Coast Guard Air Station Detroit; the Canadian Coast Guard; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Customs and Border Protection; the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Bombing Prevention; the St. Clair County Marine Division, which included a dive team; the Port Huron Police Department and the Marysville, Michigan, Police Department
