THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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CONNEAUT, Ohio - Three men died in a boating accident in Lake Erie off of northeast Ohio as U.S. and Canadian searchers rushed to find them, authorities said.

The boat capsized Thursday night about 13 kilometres north of Conneaut, the town near the Pennsylvania border where a truck and boat trailer belonging to the men were later found, Coast Guard officials said.

The Coast Guard identified the victims as Doyle Broomfield, 83, Nathaniel Jackson, 74, and Vincent Dale Mack, 52, all of Youngstown. All three were wearing life jackets.

Coast Guard spokesman Bill Colclough said officials were trying to determine why the 5.4-to 6.4-metre skiff capsized. The lake's temperature was about 23 degrees Thursday night.

Based on a garbled mayday call, searchers began looking off Ontario's Turkey Point, Colclough said. Officials later used cell-phone tracking to redirect the search to an area about 80 kilometres south-southwest near Conneaut.

"We searched with the utmost vigour and vigilance," Colclough said.