Two people canoeing are missing after going over Minnesota waterfall
Rescuers camped overnight to continue their efforts to locate the two people who went missing while canoeing in northern Minnesota. (Photo credit: Ben Hartley/St Louis County Rescue Squad/Facebook via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — Rescuers are searching for two people in northern Minnesota who went missing after going over Curtain Falls in canoes, according to authorities.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Iron Lake near the border of Canada at 7:21 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release. Two canoes had gone over Curtain Falls in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the sheriff’s office said. One canoeist was badly injured and two are missing.
Shortly after midnight, a helicopter was used to rescue one injured person and one uninjured person, according to the sheriff’s office. The injured person was flown to a hospital with “serious but not life-threatening injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
The two missing people were identified as 41-year-old Jesse Melvin Haugen and 40-year-old Reis Melvin Grams.
“Friends, two families and a wide circle of friends are devastated tonight by the events at Curtain Falls,” the St. Louis County Rescue Squad said in a Facebook post Sunday evening.
Search efforts have been hampered by “many challenges and setbacks,” including “sketchy and unreliable” cell phone and radio communication, according to the Facebook post.
Rescuers worked all evening “until it was too dark to see, and are sleeping on the ground tonight” to continue searching first thing in the morning, the post said.
The search effort includes remotely-operated vehicles and drones, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Curtain Falls is extremely difficult to access, and we are depending heavily on our aviation partners to transport equipment, supplies, and personnel in and out of the backcountry,” added the rescue group.
Earlier this month, another canoeist was found dead in Lake Agnes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, according to a news release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.
St. Louis is located on Minnesota’s border with Ontario, Canada.
CNN has reached out to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
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