Search efforts are underway after a vehicle belonging to the family of a missing East Windsor man was found in the Connecticut River in Massachusetts over the weekend.
Daniel Callahan, 26, of East Windsor, Connecticut, had gone to a party in Chicopee, Massachusetts on Saturday and was reported missing the next morning, according to police.
Hours after he was reported missing, a car registered to Callahan’s father was pulled from the Connecticut River in Chicopee, according to police.
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The office of the Hampden County Sheriff in Massachusetts said an unoccupied black Toyota Camry registered to Callahan’s father was found near the end of Walter Street in Chicopee, Mass. on Sunday evening, and pulled from the river.
East Windsor police said Callahan was last seen leaving a party at home in Chicopee around 11:45 p.m. on Saturday and his family reported him missing on Sunday morning when they could not reach him.
Officers and detectives responded to Walter Street in Chicopee around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday and found evidence indicating a possible crash at the edge of the river, the Massachusetts State Police Dive Team responded and found the submerged car, which was removed from the river around 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the Hampden County Sheriff's Office.
They said it is not yet known whether Callahan was driving the vehicle when it went into the river.
The Hampden County Sheriff's Office said its Marine Patrol Unit is assisting the Chicopee Police Department, the Chicopee Fire Department and the Western Massachusetts Regional Dive Team in the search.
The Hamden County Sheriff’s Office said two sheriff's office boats, one Chicopee Fire Department boat, two sheriff's office drones, one Chicopee drone and 14 search and rescue personnel are searching the shore and the Springfield Fire Department is also searching its section of the river.
“After receiving several calls from the community, we activated our Marine Patrol Unit and Search and Rescue teams to utilize all available resources in the search for anyone who may have been inside the recovered vehicle,” Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said in a statement.
“We are focusing on the area where the car was found, as well as locations downriver. The river is volatile at the moment, but we are committed to this effort because a distraught family is looking for their loved one,” the statement goes on to say.
