Rescuers search for missing man in boating accident

A 10-year-old boy was rescued, but his father was missing Wednesday after a boating accident on Shawano Lake, police said.

The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. during a family tubing excursion in windy and rough-water conditions near the lake’s southern shore.

Shawano County Sheriff Adam Bieber said the boy was rescued after he was able to find shallow water and was found standing on high ground.

“The boy is very lucky,” Bieber said, noting that conditions had created strong currents in the lake.

Searchers were continuing to look for the boy’s father, who Bieber said jumped into the water after his son slipped and drifted away while trying to climb back into the boat after tubing.

Neither the boy nor his father was wearing a life jacket, the sheriff said.

Also on the pontoon-style boat at the time of the incident were the boy’s younger brother and their grandfather.

A woman who identified herself as Laura Matthews, the missing man’s wife and the two boys’ stepmother, said the family was visiting their lakefront vacation home on Cedar Court. The woman stayed behind during the morning boating and tubing excursion.

Bieber said after the man jumped into the lake to help his son, the boat drifted away from both of them quickly. Other occupants tried to steer back, but the vessel got tangled on a tow rope and continued to drift farther away from the two people in the water.

The Shawano County dive team was searching for the missing father, with assistance from the sheriff’s department, the state Department of Natural Resources, the Shawano Area Fire Department and several private citizens. A helicopter and airplane were conducting an aerial search.

Search boats were launched from the Sunset Grill on Cedar Court.

Bieber estimated that at least 50 people and 10 boats were involved in the search and rescue effort.

“We’re trying to cover as much area as possible,” he said.