ELK RIVER, Minn. — Rescue workers responded to a water emergency in Elk River Friday afternoon.
Authorities said they searched the Mississippi River from River Edge Commons Park to Babcock Park for a man who went underwater and did not resurface. A state patrol helicopter was in the air and rescue boats were in the water.
WCCO
The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office said they were aware of multiple people struggling in the water at Rivers Edge Commons. A man and two children were swimming on a sandbar when the children began to struggle in the current. The man grabbed one of the children and was able to bring her to the sandbar.
He then jumped into the water to help the second child and pushed the child to shore before he disappeared under the water, the sheriff’s office said.
The children then told the fire department and police that their father was missing.
“I heard screams for help in the river, so I looked up and I saw heads bobbing up and down, it was the son and the father,” said Nick Bridges, who witnessed the incident. “My thoughts and prayers go out to the family who don’t know, who don’t have any answers at this time.”
The witness stated that he saw the boy being pulled from the water and placed in an ambulance.
According to the sheriff’s office, the search for the man is ongoing.