EAST HARTFORD — Authorities have identified a missing boater, after calling off their search for the day.
The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, which is coordinating the recovery effort involving multiple local agencies, said the missing man is Ivan DeJesus Morales Mencia, age 39, of Hartford.
FOX61 was first on the scene as officials responded to the Connecticut River on Saturday, around 2:30 p.m.
The missing man’s family told FOX61’s Dave Puglisi they were on a boat when the man on the boat went into the river near the railroad bridge, north of the Bulkley Bridge (I-84). But the current swept the man away. People on the boat attempted to throw him a flotation device on a rope, but he was not able to grab it.
The Hartford Fire Department, East Hartford Police and Fire Departments, the State Police Dive Team, CREST Regional Dive Team, Tolland Dive Team Environmental & Conservation Police Officers from DEEP are coordinating the search. They called off the search as darkness began to fall after six hours of searching. Multiple agencies resumed the search early Sunday morning, but called it off about noon because river conditions were too treacherous for divers.
