Search operations are expected to resume today as authorities hope to find the body of a local man thought to have drowned in White Lake Sunday.

Divers from the Oakland County Sheriff’s dive team searched most of the day Monday White Lake for the unidentified 55-year-old Hartland man. Deputies and the Highland Township Fire Department responded just before 3:30pm Sunday to the Highland Township portion of White Lake near the residential area of Seven Harbors on the report of a possible drowning victim.

The victim had been seen swimming around and beneath a pontoon boat. The man’s wife said her husband went underneath the boat but did not resurface. The Oakland County Sheriff’s marine unit and members of the dive team were activated and responded to the scene to begin rescue operations. The dive team searched the water in the area the victim was last seen without success until after 11:00pm, when the search was temporarily halted due to the darkness. It resumed at 7am Monday, but no progress was reported.

A Department of Natural Resources boat launch area off of Duck Lake Road is being used as the search’s staging area. (JK)