LIVERMORE — Despite a massive search, a Hollister man who fell into the Delta-Mendota Canal on Friday night remained missing Monday morning and was feared drowned, authorities said.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said family and friends of Lester Ashcraft, 56, contacted deputies about 9:51 p.m. Friday saying he was with a group fishing when he fell into the canal near Grant Line Road and was swept away by the rapid southbound current.
His family and friends told responding deputies he slipped from a steep embankment and the current swept him away.
The group tried to rescue Ashcraft but was unsuccessful because he could not stay afloat due to the fast current, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority slowed the current from 3500 cubic feet per second to 900 cubic feet per second to aid the search, but conditions were still unsafe for divers.
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Despite searches by air and ground units, a multi-agency effort to locate Ashcraft was unsuccessful both Friday night and Saturday, the sheriff’s office said
The sheriff’s office said that the current of the canal will now dictate Ashcraft’s recovery. The current was carrying him toward San Joaquin County.
His name has been entered into the national Missing and Unidentified Persons System and information about what happened has been disseminated to surrounding law enforcement agencies.
The sheriff’s office thanked the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, the Alameda County and Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Departments, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Boating Safety Unit for their assistance in the search effort.
