Body of missing boater located
CUSTER COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - UPDATE 5:15 p.m. The Custer County Sheriff's Office received a report of a boating accident on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River on Tuesday around 7 p.m.
The accident took place around 2:30 p.m. and was reported by the family of the accident victim.
63-year-old Robert Gray from Mills Creek, Washington was floating the Middle Fork near Boundary Creek when his raft struck a log jam throwing him into the water. The water at the time was running about five feet high and flowing at a temperature of 40 degrees.
Officials say Gray was tired and cold and could not self-rescue and was carried away by the swift current.
On Wednesday around 12 p.m., Custer County Search and Rescue located the body of the boater by helicopter. The body matched the description of Gray and was located submerged in a log jam below Boundary Creek.
The body has not yet been recovered do to rising run off water and swift currents which officials say make the recovery too dangerous for personnel.
The sheriff's office says recovery efforts will resume as soon as the water levels drop and the recovery team can get into the location.
A GoFundMe has been set up HERE.
ORIGINAL: Custer County Search and Rescue is looking for a missing 63-year-old boater.
Police say Robert W. Gray was last seen wearing a wetsuit and red life jacket.
Officials say his red catamaran is lodged in a log jam upstream of Boundary Creek boat launch on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, and Gray went missing at First Bend, located downstream of the Boundary Creek boat launch.
A search and rescue helicopter will be searching the river from Boundary Creek to Indian Creek Airstrip Wednesday.
If you have any information, contact the Custer County Sheriff’s Office at 208-879-2232 or notify the Indian Creek boat check station of any possible sightings.
