Search underway for missing elderly boater, Bloomfield Ridge, N.B

On June 23, 2011, just before 5:30 p.m., members of the District 6 RCMP responded to a report that a man had fallen from a boat into the Miramichi River, near Porter Cove Road, Bloomfield Ridge, N.B.

Two men had been fishing, when one of them, a 81-year-old man from Fredericton, fell overboard. The other man, a 43-year-old man from Bloomfield Ridge area, tried to pull the elderly man back into the boat, but fell overboard himself. The 43-year-old man was able to get out of the water safely. He was transported to hospital, treated and later released.

A search is underway for the missing 81-year-old man.

Members of the RCMP, Boiestown and Doaktown Fire Departments, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Department of Natural Resources, as well as local fishermen and boaters are participating in the search. York Sunbury Ground Search and Rescue volunteers are searching the shoreline.