Sheriff’s Office Searching For Possible Drowning Victim At Lake Chelan

UPDATE: July 6th, 2PM

The search for a missing 43-year-old Snohomish County man presumed drowned in Lake Chelan is underway.

On Monday afternoon, Chief Ryan Moody with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said the unidentified person was reported missing by friends who reported the man disappeared after he jumped in the water from their boat at about 2:30pm during high winds and choppy conditions near the Sunnybank housing development on the south shore of Lake Chelan

The lake is up to 200 feet deep in the area and too deep for a dive team to search

The search involves a remote-controlled underwater apparatus from Douglas County PUD and an aerial search over the scene looking for the victim in the clear lake water.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol as well as Lake Chelan Fire & Rescue responded with rescue swimmers but were unable to locate the man Saturday afternoon.

The location is near the monument marker for 16 people who perished in 1945 when a Lake Chelan school bus with 15 students and the bus driver perished when the bus slid into the lake during icy conditions.

ORIGINAL POST 

Authorities are searching an area on the west side of Lake Chelan for a missing man who is feared to have possibly drowned.

Chelan County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jason Reinfeld tells KPQ News the man, who a reporting party said is in his 40s, went into the water near a residential area just north of Lake Chelan State Park at around 2:40 p.m.

Reinfeld says the man went under the water about 75 feet from shore and did not surface, and had not been seen for roughly 30 minutes by the time crews with Chelan Fire & Rescue and the Sheriff's Office began searching for him.

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Reinfeld adds the water in the area where the man reportedly went under is as deep as approximately 200 feet, and that at least one Sheriff's marine unit is involved in the search.

Contrary to reports by other media outlets, Reinfeld says there are currently no dive teams actively engaged in rescue or recovery efforts, and that despite his request for one from an assisting agency, it will likely be no sooner than Monday that a dive team could make their way to the scene.

Reinfeld says no other information is available regarding the missing man or the efforts to find him at this time.