BEMIDJI, Minn. — A 13-year-old girl is dead after officials say she went underwater and failed to surface while swimming in a northern Minnesota lake on Sunday evening.
According to the Beltrami County Sheriff, the girl was swimming off a pontoon in Lake Julia, about 10 miles north of Bemidji, when she went missing. Friends told police that right before she went under, she had removed her personal floatation device.
The sheriff's office said friends, witnesses and fellow boaters tried and failed to locate the teen, prompting them to call 911 for help. A team of responders from the sheriff's office, Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota State Patrol, Lakes Area Dive Team and the Bemidji Fire Department and EMS arrived to assist in the search, ultimately recovering the girl's body about three hours later in 23 feet of water.
Police said the girl, who is from the Fargo-Moorhead area, was in the area to visit a friend when her death occurred.
Her body was transported to the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, and authorities say no further information about the teen will be released.
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