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Search underway for 18 month old child, presumed drowned at Lake Powell

Posted at 1:18 PM, Sep 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-11 16:46:45-04

SAN JUAN COUNTY, Utah – A search is underway for a child presumed to have drowned at Lake Powell.

According to a news release from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 7:30 pm on Saturday, Sept. 10,  an 18 month old child went missing while on a houseboat in the Halls Crossing area of Lake Powell.

The houseboat was located at the Hall’s Crossing buoy field and was tied to a stationary buoy. The child was with its mother at the time the disappearance was reported to the National Park Service. The mother told authorities that she lost track of the child for just a few minutes while the family recreated on the houseboat.  The mother and immediate family frantically searched the boat before suspecting the child had fallen into the water. The child was not wearing any type of life preserver.

NPS Rangers were contacted and arrived within minutes of the reporting call.  Rangers could not locate the child on the houseboat and turned their attention to the surrounding water.  Immediately, multiple NPS boats with sonar capability were called in to search the depths of the lake in that area however, the search was called off around 10:30 p.m. Saturday with no success in locating the child.

It is presumed that the child fell into the water and has drowned. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the National Park Service and the DPS Dive Team, has resumed the search today. More information will follow as the search continues.