Boaters, Swimmer Found Safe After Search Along DuPage River

The Naperville Fire Department spent a few hours Sunday night searching for people reported missing on the DuPage River, responding to two unrelated incidents at Ring Road and Washington Street, which ended with everyone being found safe.

In the first incident, a 911 call, came in at about 6:54 p.m. reporting a man missing after he was swimming down the DuPage River, according to a news release from Deputy Chief Rick Sander.

The man, described as in his 20s, was last seen by his friends, who said they had been floating down the river in a “ring” and had briefly stopped at the riverbank at Ring Road and Washington Street when the man re-entered on his own and swam, Sander said in the release.

The friends lost sight of him and feared he had drowned.

The call brought the Naperville Fire Department’s Dive Team and other fire personnel to the scene and they began to prepare ropes and personnel for a water rescue, Sander said in the release. Other dive teams were called to the scene.

After about an hour searching for the man, he was found several blocks from the scene by a Bolingbrook police officer, Sander said. The man was safe and had no idea there was a search under way to locate him.

While at the scene, a man riding a bicycle approached the fire personnel to report he had seen a capsized boat up ahead on the river and at least one person was struggling in the water. The teams moved upstream and began searching. Not long after the search began, a boat with three people was spotted on the river.

“It was determined that these individuals were in the boat that capsized and were able to upright the watercraft,” Sander said in the release. “We assisted them to shore and determined that they were uninjured. They stated they were floating down the river when their boat struck a large log spilling them into the river and flipping their boat over.

"They were able to hang onto the boat and upright it but lost their personnel floatation devices in the process.”

The fire department was assisted by the , Naperville Park District Police, Bolingbrook Police Department and eight surrounding fire departments.