Search continues for missing boater

Search continues for missing boater

#MasonCountyNews.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

HAMLIN TOWNSHIP — Search efforts have resumed for a missing boater. Robert James Conklin, 54, of West Olive was reported missing Saturday after apparently falling out of an 18-feet long bass style boat in the narrows of Hamlin Lake in 6- to 10-feet of water, according to Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole. The man was with a female who a passerby was able to rescue. Emergency personnel were called to the lake at 1:05 p.m. and have been searching for him. Cole said the man was not wearing a life jacket and is not a resident of Mason County.

Divers are currently in the water near the site where the man disappeared. Boaters are being asked to avoid that area. Ground crews are also searching the north shore of Hamlin Lake.

Cole said the two people fell overboard but it is unclear how they fell. A witness told MCP that she had seen a man hanging onto the side of a boat in that vicinity in the early afternoon, but the man nor woman had given no indication that anything was wrong.

Emergency units dispatched Saturday included Mason County Sheriff’s Office, including dive team, Oceana County Sheriff’s Office dive team (including Pentwater Police Department), Hamlin Township Fire Department, Michigan State Police, Ludington Fire Department, Grant Township Fire Department, Custer Fire Department, Scottville Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, including helicopter, Ludington police/fire boat, and Life EMS. The Mason County Victim Services Unit is also on scene.

Personnel were staging at Wilson Hill Park and the public is being asked to avoid that area.

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