Searches continue for 2 apparent drowning victims

The searches continued this weekend for two men missing and presumed drowned in separate boating incidents in two days on Central Oregon waterways.

At Wickiup Reservoir, west of La Pine, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol deputies have focused their search in the area where a canoe capsized early Thursday morning, throwing two men and a dog into the water. A 24-year-old Bend man and the dog managed to swim to shore, but Michael Mead, 29, of Bend did not.

After two days of active searching, including a Klamath County side-scan radar boat on Friday, marine patrols also continue to check the shorelines and shallow areas of the reservoir for Mead, Sgt. William Bailey said Sunday

Meanwhile, at Lake Billy Chinook near Culver, searchers have failed to find a man who apparently drowned after suffering a head injury while diving into the water from a pontoon boat Friday afternoon, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies said.

Witnesses said the man hit his head on a railing of the boat as he dove from the top deck of the boat, sank below the water and did not resurface. Friends on scene began searching for him, to no avail, and called for help. The man’s name has not been released by deputies.

NewsChannel 21 and KTVZ.COM will keep you updated on both searches, as developments warrant.