Father of missing boater found safe says ‘I really thought I would never see him alive’

The family of a boater who was missing overnight on Lake Erie on Thursday is grateful he has been found safe.

“I really thought I would never see him alive,” said the man’s father, whose first name is Dan, said in a video shared by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on social media on Friday.

“All night we didn’t sleep. We just couldn’t. What do you do? We did a little bit of math to figure out where he might be. And the math was almost 100 per cent. There’s no room to dance on a boat, but I was happy.”

OPP say the man — identified only as Jason, 42 — was last seen entering the lake from the Rondeau Bay channel, near Erieau in Chatham-Kent, around 2:50 pm ET on Thursday.

According to OPP, a group of five people, each operating separate watercraft, were leaving Rondeau Bay when one of the vessels became partially disabled after striking a hazard in the water. One became separated from the group after continuing into Lake Erie, while the others returned to the marina with the disabled vessel.

In an update issued just before 11 am on Friday, police said the missing boater was located Friday morning near the shores of Lake Erie east of Port Glasgow.

OPP West Region spoke with Jason’s family members, Nathan, Bob and Dan, the morning he was found safe. The three men did not give their last names.

“The Elgin OPP and family members want to thank members of the emergency services, the media and the public for their contributions to this positive outcome,” OPP said in the news release. “Life jackets save lives.”

Jason, 42, was operating a personal watercraft — a 1996 White/Green/Blue Seadoo GTX Limited — in Lake Erie when he went missing on Thursday. (OPP handout)

OPP say members of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, Canadian Coast Guard, American Coast Guard, Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue, Elgin OPP, Rondeau Provincial Park and Chatham-Kent Police Service assisted with the search.