Three missing tubers found safe after Michigan river search

Michigan State Police said Friday afternoon that three people who disappeared after a tubing trip on the Muskegon River in Newaygo County were found safe, ending a search for Jazmin Hock, 28, Sarah Vida, 28, and Kayden Kovalcik, 9. The case pulled in multiple crews after the group did not return from the river outing and family members could not reach them.

Reports said the three went tubing Tuesday but never came back. Searchers worked along the Muskegon River corridor and found inflatable tubes and footprints believed to belong to the missing tubers, clues that helped narrow the search area as concern built for the child and the two women.

Michigan State Police later said the three were found alive, and one account described them as being found deep in the woods. That detail underscored how quickly a recreational river trip can shift into a search-and-rescue operation when riders lose contact, drift off course or fail to meet a planned pickup point.

The missing group’s names and ages, Hock, Vida and Kovalcik, drew attention because the trip involved a child and two adults on a stretch of water known for summer recreation. The fact that relatives had not been able to contact them added urgency for searchers and for the people waiting on shore, where every hour without an update widened concern about what had gone wrong.

The safe outcome closed a case that was as much about river safety as it was about rescue. Tubing trips on moving water depend on clear plans, reliable check-ins and a way to account for every person in the group once the outing begins. When those basics break down, even a familiar summer activity can require a large-scale response and leave families across the country facing the same hard lesson before they head to the river.