(KNSI) — A 41-year-old man has died after saving his two children who began to struggle while swimming near a sand bar in Elk River.
According to the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, they were notified Friday morning at about 11:45 of several people struggling in the Mississippi River at Rivers Edge Commons Park. The man, identified by police as Cody Jay Pope, was swimming with his two kids on a sandbar in the river when they began to struggle in the current. Pope grabbed his daughter and brought her back to the sandbar. He then went back for his son. Pope was able to support the boy for a short time and pushed him to shore before disappearing under the surface.
Elk River firefighters and police rescued the kids, who then informed firefighters and police officers that their father was missing.
About 9:40 a.m. Sunday, the Wright County Water Patrol found Pope’s body just over three miles downstream near the Oliver Kelley Farm.
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