Missing boater recovered after multi-day search at Lake Tahoe (Update) | TahoeDailyTribune.com
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Missing boater recovered after multi-day search at Lake Tahoe (Update)

Update 6:30 a.m.: The body of a Gilroy, Calif., man, who was separated from his boat at Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, was recovered on Thursday afternoon.

Searchers had been looking for the second boater to disappear at Lake Tahoe in 16 days.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office submersible helped look for a man who got separated from a rental boat without a lifejacket.



Ian Morlang, 25, and two others rented the boat on Tuesday and went swimming near Lily Beach, according to South Lake Tahoe Lt. Shannon Laney.

Authorities were alerted that Morlang was missing at 5 p.m. Tuesday after a sailboat rescued two of the occupants.



According to police, the trio went swimming off the boat, which currents and wind moved away from them.

The two rescued occupants were wearing lifejackets, but Morlang was not.

They said Morlang went under the water and didn’t come back up.

South Lake Police Boat Marine 1 began looking for the missing man with help from Douglas County’s Marine 7, the Coast Guard, Tahoe-Douglas and South Tahoe firefighters and the CalStar medical helicopter.

Searchers continued until sunset, with the Coast Guard and a Navy rescue helicopter from Naval Air Station Fallon taking up the search through the night.

On Wednesday, searchers continued, using K-9s and the submersible.

Searchers continued on Thursday.

The search for Ryan Normoyle, 29, of Closter, N.J., who disappeared on Aug. 10 after renting a boat at Tahoe was suspended after several days using dogs and other resources.

A woodworker and minor league baseball player, Normoyle was on a three-week vacation in California when he rented a boat for two hours at Lake Tahoe. 

Normoyle was alone in the boat, so no one knows how he came to be in the water.

Update 4:30 p.m.: After a multiple day search, a missing boater was found Thursday afternoon.

Ian Morlang, 25, was found at about 3 p.m. with the help of El Dorado County Search and Rescue cadaver dogs and a remote operated vehicle. Morlang was positively identified and his next of kin was notified.

Original post

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A boater remains missing after going missing Tuesday afternoon.

South Lake Tahoe police were alerted at 5 p.m. about an incident involving three people, said a city press release.

The Marine-1 unit responded to a sailboat and rescued two people from the water, but a third was missing, according to the release.

The three people apparently rented a boat from the Tahoe Keys Marina, said the release, and went swimming off their boat near Lily Beach.

Officials said the current and wind moved the boat away from the three and they were separated. The two rescued were wearing flotation devices but a 25-year old, Ian Morlang, was not.

The two who were rescued told investigators that Morlang went underwater and wasn’t seen again.

Marine-1 initiated a search and rescue operation, with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue and CalStar medical helicopter.

The agencies searched until sunset and then the Coast Guard and Navy rescue helicopter from Fallon Naval Base, continued the search through the night.

The next day, the search continued with EDSO Search and Rescue K-9’s, divers and a remote operated underwater vehicle from DCSO.

The search continues Thursday.


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