Search ongoing for airboater missing in waters of Lake Washington near Melbourne

MELBOURNE — A search-and-rescue operation continued overnight into today as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and several other agencies combed the waters at Lake Washington Park in Melbourne for a man who reportedly went overboard from an airboat.

The search continued through the night as FWC officers, along with deputies from the Brevard and Orange County sheriff’s offices, used lights, drones, and sonar to find the unidentified 52-year-old man from Brevard County, officials reported.

“We are still actively searching for him. Right now, we don’t know the circumstances of what happened or how he went overboard,” Chad Weber, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, said Sunday.

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The incident happened about 4 p.m. Saturday as the man and at least one other person went out for a private, recreational tour of Lake Washington, an area popular with boaters and anglers. After the man went overboard, the other person in the airboat called authorities for help, Weber said.

The lake, which sits in a 25-acre recreational area, like other waters across Florida, does have alligators. Weather officials with the National Weather Service report that storm cells could form later this afternoon with isolated showers in the area in western Brevard County where the park is located.

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com . Or X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Search ongoing for airboater missing in waters of Lake Washington near Melbourne