SHEFFIELD LAKE, Ohio — Emergency crews continued their search Sunday for a kayaker who went missing Saturday afternoon. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, a 30-year-old man is believed to have capsized after high winds carried him offshore in Lake Erie.
The Sheffield Lake Fire Department said the man was reportedly wearing a personal floatation device went he disappeared around 2 p.m. Saturday.
Neighbor Adam Stepic told News 5 he called the Coast Guard as he watched the desperate situation unfold.
“It’s not really the situation that I wanted to see myself working with the coast guard in,” he said.
He said he was outside of his Sheffield Lake apartment on Lake Erie when he saw two women in small recreational kayaks and a man in a tandem kayak appearing to struggle against the high wind.
“I was walking back to my door to go upstairs to my apartment and I noticed 3 kayakers out. I was kind of wondering why they were out in that type of wind,” he recalled.
Stepic watched the two women make it to safety, while the man was blown offshore.
“I feel horrible because this lady watched her husband disappear in front of her eyes. And none of us know what happened to him from the point he capsized because we lost sight,” he said.
Coast Guard members from the Cleveland and Detroit stations searched by helicopter and watercraft until 10 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday, the Sheffield Lake Fire Department was joined by Sheffield Village Fire, Avon Lake Fire and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. More than 24 hours after the disappearance, there was still not sign of the kayaker.
Emergency crews are asking everyone to stay alert and report signs of the missing kayaker in Sheffield Lake, Bay Village and the surrounding areas. They said he was paddling a dark green tandem kayak and wearing a lime green life vest, a gray shirt and shorts.
News 5 will provide updates as they are made available.
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