(Search and Rescue boat launches as private craft pulls to shore.  Photos 250 News)

Prince George, B.C. – Several emergency resources were called into service Sunday afternoon in the search for a man who went into the Nechako River in the vicinity of the Foothills Bridge.

Prince George RCMP Sergeant Blaine Gervais tells 250 News “we had a male go into the water, by himself, by Foothills Bridge.  Walked in, was witnessed 30 feet off in the river, floating down, not in distress, and then he disappeared.  That’s all we know.  We don’t know who he is, we know kind of where he came from, but we don’t know if he’s related to a vehicle out there.”

There were a number of vehicles parked along either side of Foothills Boulevard, north of the bridge during the course of the day, as is common practice on weekends in the summer.

Sgt Gervais says “his description is a Caucasian male wearing a red T-shirt and dark hat.  He is an adult.”   The incident was reported to police at about 3pm Sunday.

As far as resources involved in the search for the man, Sgt Gervais says “we have Search and Rescue”, which had two boats on the Nechako, “the Swift Water Rescue from the Fire Department, B.C. Ambulance and the RCMP.”  There has been a sizeable team working on the search, to which Sgt Gervais notes “well we have such a lengthy river so we want to cover off the bridges and all the way down and hope we can spot him going by.  That’s if he’s in the water still, we don’t know because they lost sight of him shortly after he went down (the river).  He wasn’t under the water his head was above the water so, best case scenario is he just went in for a swim, floated down and got back out right.  It’s unknown right now.”

The central command post for the search operation has been located at the boat launch on River Road.