By Tony Heitmeyer:

OSP CHOPPER, DRONES USED TO LOCATE MISSING PAIR ON GRAND LAKE ST. MARYS

MERCER COUNTY, Ohio - Two people aboard a rented sailboat who were reported missing on Grand Lake St. Marys late Saturday night were located safely about an hour after the search began. 

A helicopter from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, thermal imaging drones and binoculars from the Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency, and watercraft from multiple Auglaize and Mercer County public safety agencies were utilized to search the lake for the pair.  

The missing subjects, a man and woman—who appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties—were located just before 12:30 Sunday morning, paddling the boat about ten feet from shore near the Wright State University Lake Campus on the north side of the lake. 

Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials, along with the rescue watercraft, assisted the pair to a cove behind a residence in the 7700 block of State Route 703, where they were helped out of the water and placed in an ODNR vehicle to get warm. They were not injured. Scanner radio traffic indicated their cell phone batteries had died. 

When asked for additional information, an ODNR Lieutenant on the scene referred questions to the ODNR Public Information Office on Tuesday morning. Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and deputies from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office also responded to the incident. Crews cleared the scene about 90 minutes after the pair were rescued. For more on this story:

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