Missing boater, 38, presumed drowned at Lake Mead

By Jackie Valley, Nikki Villoria

Published Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 8:38 a.m.

Updated Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 5:54 p.m.

The National Park Service has identified a Las Vegas boater who went missing Tuesday as 38-year-old Ruben Aguirre-Martinez.

Park Service spokesman Andrew Muñoz said Wednesday evening that Aguirre-Martinez is presumed to have drowned.

"Given the witness reports, how long he has been missing, the water temperature and weather conditions we believe that the probability of finding Aguirre-Martinez alive is very unlikely," Muñoz said.

Aguirre-Martinez was reported missing about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and was last seen in the water without a life jacket near Callville Bay.

The National Park Service ended its search and rescue efforts for the missing boater about 4 p.m. Wednesday and will begin recovery efforts Thursday morning.

If Aguirre-Martinez' body isn't found Thursday, the search will be scaled back to searches during normal patrol times.

Three men had been reported missing to the Park Service about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday by two other people in their group who had remained on shore. A passing boater Tuesday night rescued the other two men, found clinging to a single life jacket, officials said. Neither was injured.

The struggle began when the trio were in the Callville Bay area while one man was floating in the lake on an inflatable raft and the other two were in the boat, authorities said.

The two men in the boat jumped in the water to help pull the man on the raft in, but they soon realized the raft and boat had floated away, rangers said.

Shortly thereafter, one of the men who jumped from the boat, later identified as Aguirre-Martinez, began shouting to his friends that he was tired and needed help, then they didn't hear him anymore, officials said. Aguirre-Martinez wasn't wearing a life jacket when he jumped into the water, officials said.