Body of Bellingham man who went missing while swimming on Lake Whatcom last month located
The body of a Bellingham man who disappeared beneath the surface of Lake Whatcom while swimming July 10 near the southern tip of the lake was found last week.
The body of 37-year-old Nathan Molenda was located July 26, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Bellingham Herald in an email, after Molenda’s family contacted a private underwater search and rescue team from Idaho.
As previously reported by The Herald, Molenda went missing while swimming from a boat on the southern end of Lake Whatcom July 10.
The sheriff’s office, with the assistance of multiple other area search and rescue agencies, continued the search for Molenda for several days after he went missing without success.
Molenda’s family contacted Ralston Underwater Search and Recovery out of Idaho, Slater reported, and deputies spoke to representatives from the company July 26 to provide information about previous search efforts, and Molenda’s body was located later that day.
Ralston Underwater Search and Recovery uses side-scan sonar to help it locate drowning victims, according to its website, towing a transducer through the water a few feet from the bottom of a body of water to produce real-time images similar to aerial photographs. The technology allows a swath of 66 to 164 feet wide to be scanned at approximately 2 mph, often providing faster, safer and more effective searches than utilizing divers, the company says.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 11:47 AM.
