Search for missing tuber continues

A Washington-area man who went missing during a tubing expedition in the Delaware River over the weekend remains missing, according to Point Pleasant (Pa.) Fire Chief Scott Fleischer.

The man, Anthony Del Prete, 30, slipped out of his inner-tube at the end of a four-hour floating excursion on Saturday near Point Pleasant, in Bucks County.

Del Prete had moved last year from Manayunk to Herndon, Va., and returned last week to go on an annual tubing trip with friends. Fleischer said over the weekend that the friends reported that no alcohol was involved.

Fleischer said Wednesday that high and muddy waters have hampered search efforts. There were no divers in the water Wednesday morning due to heavy rains Tuesday, he said, but he is hopeful that dive teams and boat teams will be able to resume searching as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

"Conditions are pretty rough today," he said.

According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the river height in Trenton, a few miles downriver from where Del Prete went missing, exceeded 11 feet on Saturday afternoon, the highest it had been in a month. Additionally, data shows that the river was flowing at a rate Saturday about four-and-a-half times higher than the median.

Rescue boats and divers searched over the weekend to no avail. Fleischer said the efforts are considered search-and-recovery at this point, not rescue. Teams will likely search between Point Pleasant and Stockton, N.J., he said.