Search continues for three missing after swimming in Vermillion River near Red Wing

Two men and a girl disappeared under the water at the confluence with the Mississippi River and haven't been seen again.

July 4, 2023 at 10:13PM

Two men and a girl are still missing nearly a day after the trio slipped under the waters of the Vermillion River, near the confluence with the Mississippi River.

The Goodhue County Sheriff's Office wrote in a release that a family from Oakdale, Minn., had been gathered on an island at the meeting of the two rivers, just north of Red Wing, on Monday night.

One adult male in the family was fishing from the shore while the other three members were swimming — but they began to struggle in an area where the water depth dropped off rapidly. The man dove in the water and saved a woman, then dove back in to attempt to rescue the other man and girl, but the three disappeared under the surface and haven't been seen since, according to the release.

Goodhue County received a 911 call around 7:35 p.m. Monday. Several agencies have been searching for the three since shortly after, with the search stretching into Tuesday.

Goodhue deputies and several other agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources and Red Wing Fire Department, are conducting the search from boats and with sonar, the release said. Officials are searching both the Vermillion and Mississippi.

In an earlier release Tuesday, the sheriff's office warned boaters to be careful around the search efforts. "Please slow speeds around emergency and search vessels and stay clear if possible on this busy 4th of July," the message read.

The Sheriff's Office initially said that the people at the center of the search were three men who fell out of a boat into the Mississippi. The two men and girl who are now thought to be missing were not identified by name, but they and the adult woman are all part of the same household, according to the Tuesday evening release.

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Chloe Johnson

Environmental Reporter

Chloe Johnson covers climate change and environmental health issues for the Star Tribune.

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