Search Continues for Three Missing Swimmers on Vermillion River

RED WING, Minn. (AP) — Officials in Minnesota were searching Tuesday for two men and a girl who went missing while swimming in a river.

The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office said the swimmers were part of a family gathering Monday night at Diamond Island on the Vermillion River, near the confluence with the Mississippi River. A man was fishing along the shore while two adults and a girl were swimming, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

All three swimmers began to struggle in the water, and the man on the shore went in to help. He rescued an adult female and went back into the water to try and save the others.

The sheriff’s office said both men and the girl went under the water and never came back up. Their names were not released, but the sheriff’s office said all three were from the same household in Oakdale, Minnesota.

All three people were inexperienced swimmers and not wearing life vests, the sheriff’s office said. They were swimming in an area that was 3 feet deep (0.9 meters) but sharply drops off to around 9 feet (2.7 meters).

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