SEARCH FOR KAYAKER
Emergency responders are shown Wednesday in a state police boat on the Wallkill River in Rifton, looking for a missing kayaker. The search began Tuesday afternoon, after an overturned ‘airboat kayak’ was spotted in the water, and resumed Wednesday. Authorities did not report finding the person as of late Wednesday evening. State police said the missing kayaker is male, but they did not provide his name or any other details.
RIFTON, N.Y. » Emergency responders spent much of Wednesday searching for a male kayaker whose inflatable craft apparently overturned in the rushing waters of the Wallkill River, according to state police.
Family members of the missing person gathered on the shore of the river in the Esopus hamlet of Rifton as members of numerous agencies searched from the surface.
Divers were at the scene but did not go into the water because of the “strong current” in the partly frozen river, state Trooper Steven Nevel said.
Nevel declined to provide information about the missing person, other than his gender.
A state police press release said the agency had “identified a male subject who is currently missing and believed to be the missing kayaker and [is] currently not releasing the name.”
Nevel said an overturned “airboat kayak” was found in the river near state Route 213 and Church Hill Road and was reported to police at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.
He said the search was called off at 8 p.m. Tuesday and resumed after 8 a.m. Wednesday. He did not know how long the search would continue Wednesday evening.
Nevel said items were recovered from the kayak, but he did not elaborate.
Agencies at the scene, according to state police, included the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the Rosendale Police Department, the Rifton Fire Department, Ulster Hose Company 5, the Tillson Fire Department, the New Paltz Fire Department, the Esopus Fire Department, Espous Ambulance, Mobile Life Support Services and the Ulster County Department of Emergency Management.