A man reported missing after a possible drowning in Lake Quinsigamond had still not been found as of Monday morning, with dive teams, drones and boats from a sweeping coalition of agencies resuming their search at daybreak after darkness forced crews to suspend operations overnight. The search stretches across a stretch of water shared by Shrewsbury and Worcester, and as of Monday, authorities said the man had not been located.
The emergency began Sunday when a 911 caller reported that a man was possibly drowning in Lake Quinsigamond, according to the Shrewsbury Police Department. The call came in near Sunset Beach, and a witness reported seeing a jet ski circling an unattended life jacket in the water shortly before emergency responders arrived, per the same account. Initial responders were unable to locate the missing man, and as reported by Boston 25 News, the search operation has continued since.
Darkness Halted Sunday's Dive Efforts
First responders suspended search operations around 8:45 p.m. Sunday due to darkness, resuming dive and drone efforts shortly after 8 a.m. Monday, per the CBS News report. Shrewsbury police officers responded by land and water, according to Boston 25 News, and Worcester police also joined the search effort. The Massachusetts State Police and Massachusetts Environmental Police joined as well, alongside the District 14 Dive Team and the Worcester Fire District 7 Dive Team.
Search operations have included dive teams, boats, shoreline searches, and both aerial and underwater drones. Shrewsbury police, Westborough police, Grafton police, and Berlin police have all operated aerial drones as part of the effort, per Boston 25 News. Worcester EMS, the Shrewsbury Fire Department, and the Holden Fire Department also joined the response, reflecting how many municipal agencies have converged on the roughly 772-acre lake, which stretches four miles between Shrewsbury and Worcester with depths reaching 85 to 90 feet in its northern section, according to City of Worcester records.
Boaters Asked to Steer Clear as Search Continues
The Shrewsbury Police Department has asked recreational boaters to avoid the search area so emergency personnel can safely conduct operations, per officials. Police and fire presence will continue on Lake Quinsigamond, with that presence particularly concentrated in the area of Sunset Beach, according to officials cited by Boston 25 News. The investigation remains ongoing, and search efforts remain active on the lake as of Monday.
Watercraft rules and safety regulation on Lake Quinsigamond fall under the Lake Quinsigamond Commission, with water enforcement shared seasonally between the Shrewsbury and Worcester police departments, according to Town of Shrewsbury public records. That shared governance structure helps explain why so many municipal dive units and patrol boats were able to respond simultaneously to Sunday's report.
A Lake With a History of Water Emergencies
This is not the first fatal or near-fatal incident on Lake Quinsigamond in recent years. In June 2025, a 4-year-old boy drowned in the lake after being found unresponsive near Bridle Path in Worcester, as reported by Boston 25 News. And in June 2022, an off-duty Shrewsbury firefighter attempted a water rescue before dive teams recovered the body of a 30-year-old man who drowned after falling or jumping from the Kenneth Burns Memorial Bridge, according to Patch.
Just weeks before this search began, Worcester officials had issued temporary health advisories restricting swimming in parts of Lake Quinsigamond following a 15,000-gallon sewage overflow. Statewide, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health recorded 57 unintentional drowning deaths and 86 non-fatal near-drowning hospitalizations in 2022, with most cases occurring during summer months, according to state health data.
Central Massachusetts has seen other multi-agency water searches in recent months. In March, regional rescue teams conducted a multi-day search for a Holy Cross student who drowned after a canoe capsized on a nearby lake. As of Monday morning, the man missing from Lake Quinsigamond had not been found, and authorities said the investigation remains ongoing.
