DETROIT — Rescue workers searched to no avail for a man who plunged into the chilly Detroit River when a scaffold on a bridge between the United States and Canada collapsed in gusty wind.
Three of the 10 workers on the scaffold Tuesday were thrown into the icy water. Two of them were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard but a third was missing.
Windsor police planned to resume their search Wednesday for Jamie Barker, 27, a father of five from Windsor, Ontario.
"They will pull the (scaffold) wreckage because they believe the missing man is in the wreckage," U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Bogeman said. "If they don't find him there, then they will send divers down."
The men, who work for the Ambassador Bridge Corp., had been painting the privately owned bridge when the scaffold collapsed. Temperatures were in the upper 30s, and winds were gusting to 22 mph.
"That high wind must have been some factor," Windsor Fire Chief Dave Fields said.
Seven workers were left dangling from safety harnesses about 100 feet above the water, police said. Three of them managed to climb back to the bridge. The others were hoisted to safety by fire crews after about an hour.
"The rappel teams dropped rope to them and just hoisted them up, one at time," Fields said.
The two men retrieved from the fast-moving current by the Coast Guard were hospitalized in good condition. The National Weather Service said the water temperature was 53 degrees.
Kyle Imrie, a 20-year-old college student, was walking along the river when he saw the scaffolding give way.
"I saw a big cloud of dust and then we saw a body fall," Imrie said. "There was nothing we could do."
Anxious co-workers and family members gathered at the scene. A mother of one of the workers broke down when she was told her son was safe.
"He's going home," said a woman who embraced the shaking mother. "God didn't want him yet."
The Ontario Board of Labor will investigate the accident, said Windsor police Staff Sgt. Gordon Purdy.