RED WING, Minn. — The bodies of three people who disappeared while spending time along the Vermillion River near Red Wing on Monday, July 3 have been located, the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office confirmed Wednesday.
Police said the two adult men and a 17-year-old girl were "located in the search area" around 7 a.m. after search operations resumed the morning of July 5.
On Tuesday, the GCSO explained that members of a family were spending time on the north side of Diamond Lake on the Vermillion River near the Mississippi River Monday night. At the time, three people were swimming and another was fishing. The sheriff's office said that when the swimmers began to struggle, the man fishing went into the water to help. He was able to rescue an adult woman, his daughter, and bring her to shore, and then went back into the water to get the other two swimmers. At that point, the three people went underwater.
The sheriff's office said everyone involved in the incident is believed to live together in the same household in Oakdale, Minnesota. A spokesperson added that the location in which the family members went missing was only accessible by boat, and those who went underwater were "inexperienced swimmers."
In their first reports on Monday, the GCSO said the three missing individuals were fishermen.
The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office will eventually release the names of the victims.
"Thank you to all the law enforcement agencies who assisted in this search," the GCSO said in a statement Wednesday. "A special thank you to Northstar Search and Rescue for their assistance and resources."
The recovery effort along the Vermillion and Mississippi Rivers was just one of several fatal drownings to happen on Minnesota waterways over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. On Sunday, a 20-year-old man drowned after jumping off a raft at Lake Lomand. Then on Monday, July 3, a 20-year-old man from Mexico drowned while swimming in Wright County's Lake Pulaski, and a 52-year-old boater's body was recovered on Swan Lake in rural Itasca County.
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