Published: August 31, 2009 11:50 pm      

Divers search for boater

CONFLUENCE — Divers from three counties were searching late Monday for a boater who fell overboard earlier in the day at Youghiogheny River Lake.

The lake straddles Somerset County and the state of Maryland.

With the assistance of an unmanned submersible, divers were searching for a body in about 30 to 35 feet of water near the Mason-Dixon Line, said Tom Close Sr., a captain with the Confluence Volunteer Fire Company.

Jeff Hawk, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the flood-control reservoir, said Corps personnel were assisting divers with an unmanned submersible. The remote-control device is equipped with lights and a camera.

Divers were from the Somerset County Dive Team and from the Confluence, Addison, Markleysburg, Connellsville, Greensburg and Scottdale fire companies.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is investigating the accident.