MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s office have released the name of the man who went missing over the weekend in Chautauqua Lake while tubing without a life preserver.
Sheriff Joe Gerace says 48-year-old Ricky Whipple of Conewango Valley was thrown from an inner tube while being pulled by a boat early Saturday night on an area of the lake to the south of Mayville.
Witnesses say Whipple was thrown from the tube, went underwater, and did not resurface. They say he was tubing without a life preserver.
The sheriff’s Marine Division and members of the county’s Water Emergency Team were called to the scene by the boat operator just before 7 p.m. Saturday and crews spent more than two hours searching the water before giving up for the night. The search resumed on Sunday but crews were still unable to locate Whipple. The search will resume today.
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