Rescue crews search river

Spokane water rescue crews were stretched thin Sunday investigating two separate incidents on the Spokane River.

Rescue crews were still searching late Sunday for a 22-year-old man who may have drowned while swimming in deep water at Plantes Ferry Park north of the Upriver Dam.

The victim was apparently at the park on East Wellesley Avenue in Spokane Valley for a family barbecue, the sheriff’s office said.

The man’s family saw him struggling in the water about 4:45 p.m., and attempted to keep pace along the riverbank, said Spokane Valley Fire Department Fire Marshal Kevin Miller.

“They couldn’t keep up with him,” Miller said. Fire crews stretched a rescue line across the river at the Argonne Road Bridge, but suspended rescue efforts about 6 p.m. when the man did not surface.

He was last seen floating downstream by firefighters about a half mile from the bridge, officials said.

Swimmers just west of where the victim went in said he floated by, but did not seem distressed.

“He seemed fine, he wasn’t splashing around or anything,” said Nicole Schroeder, who went to the river to swim with her family.

It was not known if the man was wearing a life vest. The water temperature was between 50 and 60 degrees at the time.

The Spokane City County Water Rescue Team continued to search for the man late Sunday.

He had not been located by 9 p.m. when crews were called to investigate another person in the river west of downtown Spokane.

The Spokane Fire Department Water Rescue Unit and the rescue team began a search after a caller reported seeing a person clinging to branches along the riverbank between the Monroe Street Bridge and the Maple Street Bridge.

A man was found on the north bank of the river, said Craig Cornelius, Spokane fire battalion chief.

“By that time he was up on the bank, hiding in the bushes,” Cornelius said. The man was being questioned by Spokane police.

Spokane County ordinance requires that life vests be worn on the river while using a flotation device, including air mattresses, inner tubes, rafts, canoes, kayaks and boats, said Sgt. Dave Reagan, sheriff’s spokesman.

The ordinance does not require people to wear a life jacket for swimming, Reagan said.