Rangers, others search for airman missing at Lake Mead

National Park Service rangers and members of the U.S. Coast Guard launched a search Saturday for a 28-year-old airman from Creech Air Force Base who went missing in Lake Mead after he jumped out of a 21-foot boat to go for a swim, authorities said.

A woman who was left in the boat with her child called 911 at 2:34 p.m., prompting a response by park rangers and a Coast Guard vessel along with a Maritime Safety and Security Team, said Lake Mead National Recreation Area Assistant Chief Ranger Randy Lavasseur.

Lavasseur said they were looking for a serviceman.

Capt. Katie Roling, a spokeswoman for Creech, said the missing man is an airman assigned to the 432nd Wing at the base at Indian Springs, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Lavasseur said the man, who wasn't wearing a personal flotation device, disappeared after he tried to swim as 30 mph winds pushed the boat away from his location.

With the boat adrift, the woman, who didn't know how to operate it, called 911 and a Coast Guard vessel responded. Personnel from the vessel boarded the boat and drove the woman and child to safety.

Responders tried to locate the man using sonar devices. They also conducted an aerial search to no avail.

"We haven't deployed divers. We have them on standby," said Lavasseur. He said the man went down in a deep part of Boulder Basin.

He said the search-and-rescue effort was called off at 8 p.m., but the park service along with the Nevada Department of Wildlife will resume the search this morning.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.