The U.S. Coast Guard is searching the Black Rock Canal off of the I-190 following a report of persons in a boat in the water.
Petty Officer Kyle Bruce, an Operations Specialist with the Coast Guard, said a report called in to the fire department brought both agencies to the shore of Unity Island on the city’s west side.
“After conducting a shoreline search, we discovered a life jacket between the Ferry Street Bridge and the Peace Bridge," said Bruce. "This life jacket does not correlate to that, however after further investigation we found out that the West Side Rowing Club had a small bout out basically checking the ice today to see if they could practice today in the Black Rock canal.”
U.S. Border patrol assisted in the search by boat. Erie County Air One was called in to assist as well.
“They flew the whole entirety of the Black Rock Canal as well as the Niagara River with no sightings of any distress. We’re basically doing a shoreline search of anything," Bruce explained. "This lifejacket appears to be older. It is weathered and it does have some marine growth on it. So we’re not associating this with any active search and rescue case or any missing persons or anything of that nature.”
