Authorities say it’s now a recovery operation.
Maryland Natural Resources Police are continuing their search for two men who went missing on Sunday after they set out for a day of fishing. Authorities say Robert Lee of Frederick and Lawrence Grey of Brunswick went out on the Potomac River in their Jon boat at around 5:00 AM, and have not been seen since.
Spokeswoman Candy Thomson says personnel are concentrating their efforts near the Point of Rock bridge. “We are actually working our way from that bridge all the way down to Nolands Ferry. So that we want to make sure we have that area covered,” she said.
Lee and Grey have not been found, but their 14-foot aluminum boat and the trailer were found on Sunday. Thomson says the search has now shifted from a rescue to a recovery operation.
She says the search is being done by surface boats, and officers walking along the shore line. “But the water is quite high. So we aren’t not using divers just because of that factor, ” Thomson says. “It’s hard to see. The water’s moving really fast, and there’s a lot of debris underwater, and we just don’t want to risk anything. So we’ve dropped to surface searches which we are doing constantly, and we’ll continue to do that until we have a recovery.”
Natural Resources Police say water conditions are too dangerous right now, and citizens are urged to put off boating until another day. “We just had a captain go out and check conditions, and the captain said she saw several kayakers and several small boats out there. The water is still incredibly fast moving. It’s still very high. And we would appreciate it if people would pick another day to go boating,” she says.