Aug 27, 2003 By Patty Shultz 2 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – City police were searching for the owner of a kayak found overturned and wedged under a log in the Youghiogheny River near the Memorial Bridge late Tuesday. “We’re going to be running (license) plates of all unattended vehicles from the park area and along the trail to see if we can determine who the owner is,” said city Police Chief Stephen Cooper.

He declined to speculate whether the operator of the kayak might have drowned.

“Right now all we have is a kayak overturned in the river,” Cooper said.

Rescue, fire and police were dispatched to the Yough River Park shortly after 7 p.m. after an unidentified person reported that the red Mohawk kayak was overturned under the Memorial Bridge.

Police said the caller reportedly saw a man in the boat in the same area around 6 p.m.

The kayak was found approximately 30 yards from the shoreline.

The New Haven Hose Volunteer Fire Company scuba team scoured the area for nearly an hour before darkness forced them to end the search.

Fire Chief Joe Childs said divers searched the area near the bridge piers and then surveyed upstream and downstream from where the kayak was located.

Although the water was at a low level, Childs said the divers reported that the current was swift.

Childs said the rescue team will be on the scene this morning, if warranted.