Two Women and a 9-Year-Old Missing While Tubing on Michigan River Found Safe

Two women and a 9-year-old child who disappeared while tubing on a Michigan river earlier this week were found safe Friday afternoon, authorities said.

A Michigan State Police K-9 team and state conservation officers located the group at 4:36 p.m., nearly a mile from a boat launch on the Muskegon River, state police said in a statement.

"This is the outcome everyone hoped for," the agency said.

Both women are 28. Their relationship to the child was not immediately clear. The statement did not provide additional information about their conditions or about the circumstances of their disappearance.

The launch near where the trio was found is roughly seven miles southwest of a different boat launch, where a car belonging to one of the women was discovered with a window broken out, state police said in a statement Wednesday.

That woman's father found the car and alerted authorities. At that point, the group had been missing for more than 24 hours, and their relatives had not been able to reach them, the agency said.

Two of their tubes and a set of footprints were found Thursday, according to state police.

Nearly two dozen state police posts, law enforcement agencies and other government departments assisted in the search, state police said Friday. Volunteers also took part.

State police did not say whether the group required medical attention, and did not describe how they had become separated from their tubes or how far they may have traveled on the river before they were located.