Coast Guard calls off search for Ohio man

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — Authorities have halted a search in Lake Erie for a Cleveland firefighter who fell overboard near Sandusky.

Coast Guard spokesman Will Mitchell says 44-year-old Kenneth Alderman fell from a small recreational boat Saturday evening. He says three other boat passengers dove into the lake to try to help Alderman, but the firefighter continued to thrash and kick.

Mitchell says Alderman was not wearing a life preserver.

He says the Coast Guard and local fire officials searched a 12 nautical mile area, two miles east of the Sandusky breakwall.

Coast Guard cadaver dogs, trained to locate bodies, joined the search Sunday morning. The Guard planned to suspend operations search Sunday at noon, but continued until 3 p.m. when Cleveland Fire Department divers arrived with a sonar scanner.