The National Park Service is searching for a 23-year-old North Las Vegas man last seen in the water about a mile north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mohave Sunday. The search was suspended at 3 p.m. Monday and resumed Tuesday, according to Christie Vanover, spokeswoman for Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Tuesday’s search by Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue crews was a scaled-back effort without divers.
At 3:35 p.m. Sunday, the park’s Interagency Communication Center received a report that a man went into the water and did not surface.
Witnesses said the man and two others jumped off a boat to go swimming and the boat drifted away. Passengers on the boat were able to rescue two swimmers, but the third was not found. The missing man was not wearing a life jacket.
Nearly 10 people from the National Park Service and Nevada Department of Wildlife began an immediate search of the area until 8:30 p.m. Sunday when it became too dark. Search efforts resumed at about 8:30 a.m. Monday with 15 people from the park service and police department searching the area using side scan sonar and divers.
The water in the area is about 50 to 60 feet deep.
The park service has been on an extensive campaign to tell people to wear Coast Guard-approved personal flotation devices while in the water regardless of water depth. Prior to this incident, there have been three presumed drownings at Lake Mead National Recreation Area this year, and 114 between 2000 and 2012.