Michigan man’s body recovered after jumping from a pontoon boat in Saginaw Bay

Authorities on Wednesday recovered the body of a man who disappeared after jumping from a pontoon boat in Saginaw Bay.

A fisherman spotted the body of 58-year-old Timothy A. Wallschlager floating in the bay about 300 to 500 yards (275 to 450 meters) from Shelter and Channel Island and notified the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Bay County Sheriff Troy Cunningham said.

DNR personnel went to the area the fisherman described and recovered Wallschlager’s body, Cunningham said.

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Wallschlager, of Carrollton Township, went underwater Sunday afternoon near Bay City State Park, authorities have said. He and five others were on a pontoon boat, and he leaped into the water and began struggling against the waves.

A woman on the boat jumped in to try saving the man, but she too began to struggle, lost consciousness and nearly drowned, Cunningham said. Others on the boat pulled her up with help by three people aboard another boat and a deputy on marine patrol, the sheriff said. The deputy resuscitated the woman.

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Wallschlager was not wearing a life preserver, Cunningham said.

Deputies, U.S. Coast Guard personnel, DNR officers and area firefighters all searched for Wallschlager but weather conditions made it difficult.