Sunday, July 12, 2009

WATCH FOR A BODY IN THE CANAL

Yesterday, boat traffic was suspended in the Gasport section of the Erie Canal as divers went looking for a body. Here's what the Niagara Gazette reports...

City and state police, along with the Niagara County Sheriffs Department, searched in vain nine hours for a possible drowning victim in the Erie Barge Canal from Exchange Street to the Matt Murphy Way Bridge.

According to a fisherman, a man 50 to 60 years old, went into the water near the Exchange Street Bridge about 8 a.m. Saturday and then declined a help line thrown his way.

The North Adams Street bridge was closed to automobile traffic and the canal was shut down between the Gasport lift bridge and Lock 34 in Lockport because there were divers in the water.

“We can’t have any boat traffic when there are divers around,” said Canal Superintendent Mike Andrews, who was overlooking the search from the Adams Street Bridge. “I don’t think there’s an awful lot of traffic waiting right now, fortunately.”

The water is about 12-feet deep at the Adams Street Bridge and there was a relatively strong current east.

To read the entire article, go here:

http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_192232957.html