UPDATE | Search for man overboard from ferry continues off coast of Bainbridge Island

Published 1:52 pm Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Two small boats from the ferry M/V Wenatchee are currently searching for a man who reportedly jumped from the lower car deck of the ferry while it was nearing Bainbridge Island Tuesday afternoon.

Donna Etchey, publisher of the Bainbridge Review, was on the Wenatchee. She said the vessel stopped just before it entered Eagle Harbor.

“We stopped. And then all of sudden we saw a crew going to the back,” Etchey said.

“At first, we thought it was a drill. Then a crewmember said, ‘Man overboard, can you please step back?'”

Other travelers on the boat saw the man jump off the stern end of the Wenatchee into the waters of Puget Sound.

Etchey said two small boats were launched to look for the man, and the ferry has turned around as the search continues.

The ferry left Seattle for Bainbridge Island at 1:10 p.m. Tuesday.