TORCH LAKE TOWNSHIP - Divers recovered the body of Brian Buschell Sunday morning, the fifth day of a search for the personal watercraft operator who went missing Wednesday night on the Torch Lake Cuts.
Buschell, 19, of Laurium, left on a personal watercraft on the Cuts, a stretch of water and islands linking Portage Lake and Torch Lake, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
A search began when he did not return later that night.
Buschell's body was found at 11:50 a.m. Sunday in 20 feet of water at the south end of the Cuts near the east shore, according to a release from the Houghton County Sheriff's Department,
Multiple state and local agencies including the sheriff's department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Dollar Bay Fire and First Responders contributed to the search, along with volunteers. Bootjack Fire & Rescue initiated the search Wednesday night, finding his watercraft in operable condition about a mile from Buschell's departure point.
The search took place on water and land and encompassed parts of Torch Lake and Portage Lake.
The Houghton County Sheriff's Department, the Michigan State Police Dive Team and the North Wind Divers made the recovery of Buschell's body Sunday.
Further information about the recovery was not available from the sheriff's department this morning.
The incident remains under investigation.
