UPDATE: Richland worker presumed drowned after day of fun with friends

What started as a weekend of fun, ended in an underwater search Monday for a Richland construction worker.

Brandon Martin, 34, was thrown from a boat about 8 p.m. Sunday when it swerved to avoid another friend’s ski boat and hit some debris.

He landed in the water west of the blue bridge, along with another man in his 30s and a 10-year-old boy, according to a man from the second boat.

None were wearing life jackets.

“We were all up at Strawberry Island,” said Jason Brown of Kennewick. “We had kids with us. We were all having a good time. We had a couple of beers, but none of us were heavily intoxicated.”

The boat that Brown was on managed to pick up the boy and the other man, but Martin never surfaced, he said.

The ski boats were returning from a day on the water when they came too close together, forcing the one driver to veer off. His boat ran hit something under the water, sending the three into the river.

When Martin didn’t surface, six boats and two divers searched unsuccessfully for about two hours Sunday night.

Scott Ruppelius, the Columbia Basin Dive Rescue’s public information officer, said the chances of survival in the Columbia River plummet after a swimmer without a life jacket isn’t found within an hour.

Family and friends waited returned watch from the shore Monday afternoon as divers resumed their search of the river.

Martin had just moved to the area in April from Puyallup, Brown said.

While Brown only recently met Martin, he described him as a good person with a big heart, who came to the area for a better life.

Martin was remembered by other friends on his Facebook page as a fun-loving person, who was fun to work with.

Kennewick police and fire officials, Pasco emergency crews and Benton and Franklin county sheriff’s deputies helped with the search.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a joint investigation with Benton County into the crash. Officials said alcohol may have been a factor. No other information was released Monday.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 9:44 AM with the headline "UPDATE: Richland worker presumed drowned after day of fun with friends."