Jul 5, 2014 1 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities are searching for the body of an elderly man who went underwater while he was placing markers in the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh.

Emergency crews say the unidentified man went missing Friday afternoon. Witnesses said the man was marking a shallow area near the Fox Chapel Yacht Club when he was apparently swept away by an undercurrent and taken downstream hundreds of yards. The man wasn’t believed to be wearing a life jacket.

Boaters say the river was flowing at an unusually high speed at the time. The man’s wife was reportedly at the club when he went missing, and she was taken to an area hospital for evaluation.