ELY, Minn. — Bad weather Tuesday hampered the search for two men who went over a waterfall while fishing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota this weekend.
St. Louis County Sheriff’s Commander. Nate Skelton told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that cloud cover was too low for aerial surveillance and up to 50 millimeters of rain was expected, so the next two days were not promising.
Skelton said a search party was camped at the scene, waiting for conditions to improve in the remote area about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Duluth. The nearest town is Ely, about 20 miles away. The crew was equipped with drones and remotely operated vehicles.
Superior National Forest officials closed trails, campsites, portages and bodies of water in the area to assist in the search.
Authorities have identified the missing men as Jesse Melvin Haugen, 41, of Cambridge, and Reis Melvin Grams, 40, of Lino Lakes. They went over Curtain Falls, between Crooked Lake and Iron Lake on the Minnesota-Ontario border, while fishing in the area on Saturday.
The missing men were part of a group of five in two canoes.
“One of the canoes went into distress and the others tried to provide assistance,” Skelton said. “Then they both went over the falls.” Two of the men who were run over were later rescued. One was flown to a Duluth hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The fifth man was found at a nearby campsite.
Skelton told Minnesota Public Radio that the waterfall is not a straight fall, but drops about 30 feet, with a fast current. He said the group was familiar with the area.
“Four of them were actually anchored at the top of the falls, fishing, which they have done in the past, and it sounds like one of them had a problem and the other one was going to try to give some help and both canoes and four people went over the falls,” the sheriff told MPR.