Coast Guard Suspends Search For Missing Man In River 'Float Down'

PORT HURON, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - Coast Guard crews suspended their search Monday night for a man missing in St. Clair River since Sunday afternoon.

Missing is 19-year-old Brady Morton of Fenton who was last seen getting off his raft, going under the water and not resurfacing in the vicinity of Malcolm Marine while participating in the Port Huron, Michigan, "Float Down" event.

"Suspending a search and rescue case is an extremely difficult decision to make," said Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Settel, the assistant command center supervisor at Coast Guard Sector Detroit. "The Coast Guard and partner agencies have exhausted all available resources with the information that was available. Our thoughts and prayers are with Brady's family and friends."

Lt. Kelly Ridle tells The Associated Press that Morton was with a group of people who were taking part Sunday's event.

Ridle, of the Coast Guard Ninth District in Cleveland, says that the people who were with Morton couldn't say when they last saw him.

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office Dive Team is using sonar to search an area of the river from roughly North Blvd. in Port Huron to Chrysler Beach in Marysville. The Sheriff's Office Marine Division and U.S. Coast Guard are also participating in the search, which got back underway at about 9:30.

People in tubes and rafts entered the U.S.-Canada border river Sunday at Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron, about 55 miles northeast of Detroit. They were exiting at Chrysler Beach in Marysville.

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