A canoe stuck on rocks in the Lehigh River prompted a search for possible missing boaters Monday morning. But within a few hours, the owner of the boat came forward and said all of his passengers were accounted for.

The canoe was spotted Monday morning around 9 a.m. near the Route 903 bridge. Members of the Jim Thorpe and Lehighton Fire Departments patrolled down river from the site to search for occupants.A train sitting at the former Packerton Yards had to be split so crews could access the western shore of the river.Jim Thorpe Fire Chief Bill Diehm said crews had to take the precaution of searching the water, regardless of whether someone had reported a boater missing."We did a shoreline search as much as we could, Lehighton did from the bottom up, and then just tried to wait and see if somebody responded to that canoe. Sure enough, somebody did," he said.Diehm said around 1 p.m. a man was seen taking the canoe from the shore. Jim Thorpe Police were dispatched to check if he needed any help, or if any boaters were missing.Officer Eric Schrantz said that the boater reported that he was canoeing during Sunday to take advantage of a release of water from the Francis E. Walter Dam, which provides flood control along the Lehigh.The boater said he and a friend were OK, but abandoned the canoe after it became filled with water."He had to wait to go down and get it. He was canoeing, him and his friend, during the dam release. It got stuck on rocks," Schrantz said.Diehm said that it is not unheard of for people to have to abandon canoes in the fast water during a dam release. He recalled a previous case where crews found an abandoned canoe on the banks of the Lehigh in the borough."They were able to get out, they just never called anybody. It would have been nice for them to call and say 'We dumped our canoe, everyone is alright,'" he said.