According to authorities, Michigan emergency personnel joined forces to find the body and recover it from the Thunder Bay River.
According to The Alpena News, a man was recovered after what police have called an accidental drowning.
A little before 1 p.m. on Sunday, first responders received a call after the man — whose name is not currently being released — entered the water to help his fiancée retrieve her dog, according to local outlet The Alpena News.
According to local reports, police found the 36-year old man at the bottom the river in approximately 20 feet of water and 20 feet offshore.
According to the Alpena Fire Department’s joint news release, Alpena Police Department, witnesses at the scene claimed that the man fell onto wet rocks and went under the surface of the river.
Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush told Inside Edition Digital that multiple emergency responders and bystanders were involved in the rescue attempt, including the Alpena Fire Department, Alpena Police Department, Alpena County Sheriff’s Office, Alpena County Emergency Management Team, Michigan State Police, Victim Services, and U.S. Coast Guard members.
According to The Alpena News, Forbush said despite these efforts, the water rescue equipment available to firefighters was designed for surface-level emergencies, rendering it inadequate to help them with the deep-water rescue.
Several Alpena Fire Department officers in cold-water rescue suits attempted to dive to the river’s bottom, but they couldn’t swim that deep without dive equipment, he continued.
Forbush informed The Alpena News that the search for the man, due to the time he had been underwater, was deemed a recovery operation and not a rescue. By 2:30 p.m. the man’s body was recovered by two dive team deputies from the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office.
Luckily, the man’s fiancée and her dog did made it out safely, Forbush shared with Inside Edition Digital.
While the end result was tragic for Forbush, he praised the teamwork of emergency workers and the community. “The cooperation of this run was absolutely incredible,”He said.
He mentioned that nearby pastor Joe Collins, who had been in the parking lot of the close-by Shoreline Wesleyan Church, rushed over to help comfort people in support of Victim Services.
“The community really came together on it tremendously. While it’s a shame that the outcome was not what we would have hoped for, the rescue plan worked well.”Forbush stated.