Search to continue for missing kayaker in Fort Wayne river

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Fort Wayne Fire Department will return to the Maumee River Wednesday morning, to search for a missing kayaker.

Police and firefighters were called to the Hosey Dam near North Anthony Boulevard around 9 p.m. Tuesday when someone jogging on the road saw three kayakers go over the dam.

Kelly Hudson saw at least two of the kayakers in the water, but noticed their kayaks were father down river.

“I kind of heard them screaming a little bit, but I thought they were screaming like, ‘oh I’m having fun,’” Hudson told WANE-TV.

Hudson flagged down two people nearby who had a phone and called 911.

Fire department personnel were able to pull two of the kayakers from the banks of the Maumee, but the third kayaker has not been found.

New Haven firefighters searched the river to Kreager Park.

Operations were halted around midnight and will resume Wednesday morning.

Fort Wayne crews had five boats in the water searching for the missing kayaker. Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras in an attempt to pick up heat signatures from the kayaker. Crews also walked the banks of the river.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officers also assisted with the search and are expected to return to the river in the morning.

Efforts Wednesday morning are expected to focus around Hosey Dam and on the river near the North Anthony Blvd. bridge.

“We are restricted to surface searches,” said Tim Maloney, FWFD Chief of Special Operations. “It’s not a safe operation or practice for our dive team to make an underwater search when it’s dark out.”

Maloney said the current of the Maumee River had been reported around six knots, or seven miles per hour, in the last few weeks.

The names of the kayakers have not been released.