Search underway for man missing in Lake Billy Chinook
A man who jumped from the top deck of a pontoon boat on Lake Billy Chinook late Friday afternoon struck his head on a railing on his way into the water and did not resurface, prompting a search that continued until nightfall and will continue Saturday, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said.
The sheriff’s office received a report around 4:20 p.m. of the incident, on the Metolius River arm of the lake, near Pelton Dam, Adkins said.
Friends of the victim searched the area, joined by deputies when they arrived. The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team also was called in to assist, but searchers were unable to find the man, the sheriff said. The search was suspended around 9:40 p.m. due to darkness and will resume at daylight.
The victim’s name was being withheld until all family members can be notified.
Adkins said the man’s family apparently meets at Lake Billy Chinook each year for a traditional Father’s Day gathering.
It’s the second apparently fatal water incident in Central Oregon in two days. Searchers also have been unable to find Michael Mead, 29, of Bend, who was with a friend in a canoe on Wickiup Reservoir early Thursday when it capsized and they were thrown into the water. The other man and a dog that was in the canoe made it to shore safely.
The reservoir search was joined Friday by a Klamath County Sheriff’s Office boat equipped with a side-scan sonar that can prove useful. Adkins said they are hopefully the boat also can assist in the search at Lake Billy Chinook.
