A multi-agency search is underway for a 19-year-old man believed to have fallen from a moving recreational boat on Lake Washington near the I-90 floating bridge by Mercer Island. The incident was reported at about 10:40 p.m. on Friday after the boat’s occupants realized a passenger was missing.
According to Mercer Island police, the boat was slowing near the east high-rise of the I-90 floating bridge as it returned from the Seafair log boom when the missing passenger was discovered to be gone. Current ongoing investigation by the authorities is how the man entered the water.
Search teams, including the U.S. Coast Guard, Seattle Harbor Patrol, Bellevue Fire, Eastside Fire, Clyde Hill Police, and Mercer Island Marine Patrol, searched a 10-square-mile area using thermal drones, infrared (FLIR) technology, and searchlights.
Nighttime search operations were suspended around 12:30 a.m. because of poor visibility and resumed during daylight on Saturday. Investigators are also checking whether the missing man may have safely reached shore or boarded another vessel while remaining in contact with his family.
