CALLED OFF AGAIN: Dive Team search for missing swimmer in Milwaukee River

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — The Milwaukee Fire Department’s Dive Response Team resumed its search Thursday morning, November 6th for a person whom a witness says jumped or dove into the Milwaukee River and began swimming on Wednesday morning, November 5th. That happened near Erie and Milwaukee Streets. Officials say the swimmer might have been pulled under by a current.

“We have several credible witnesses that a young adult male did, in fact, jump from the bridge and appeared to be swimming up river,” MFD Assistant Chief Dan Lipski said.

Lipski says a 911 call came in just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Within two minutes, a member of the MFD’s Dive Response Team was on scene.

“He ran down the walkway, jumped over a fence, and asked a man that was parked there with a boat, ‘where is he? Where is he? Where is he?’ And he says, ‘his head just went under water.’ Our firefighter jumped on that man`s boat and said, ‘take me there, right now!’ He had a life jacket and a throw bag. The thought was, ‘if I can get a rope to this guy, I can save this guy.’ Unfortunately, when they got to the spot where the gentleman had gone underwater, he was not visible,” Lipski said.



The Milwaukee Fire Department had 10 divers searching for the person on Wednesday — two divers at a time going into the water. Officials said visibility in the river was poor.

Lipski says after several hours of searching, they were unable to locate anything -- and the search was suspended.

“We have reports that the person was wearing a very poofy jacket that was inflated. Did the person float further downstream before they sunk? We don`t have the answers to that right now,” Lipski said.

Thursday's search was called off due to darkness.

The Milwaukee Fire Department says the search will not resume unless there is new information about the person's location.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.