Names Released Of 2 Missing Canoers, After Canoes Go Over Curtain Falls In BWCAW

Curtain Falls (Cliff Wold’s Outfitting Co. 2017)

UPDATE (May 20, 10:45 a.m.) — The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of those involved in the search for two missing canoers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

41-year-old Jesse Melvin Haugen from Cambridge, Minnesota and 40-year-old Reis Melvin Grams of Lino Lakes, Minnesota are the two missing canoers.

Authorities say search efforts continue Monday in the Curtain Falls area. Remote operated vehicles and drones are being utilized in the search as rapid water conditions are making it difficult.

The Sheriff’s Office says updates will be provided as they become available.

ORIGINAL POST:

BWCAW, Minn. — Multiple agencies are assisting the St. Louis County Rescue Squad in a search for two missing canoers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The call for help came in around 7:20 p.m. Saturday for a report of a water emergency on Iron Lake.

“The caller reported two canoes had gone over Curtain Falls during the incident,” according to a news release Sunday.  The caller reported one person “badly injured” and two others missing.

Around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, a DNR helicopter was used to “extract one of the injured individuals and another uninjured party.”  Authorities said the injured party was flown to Essentia Health in Duluth with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Later on Sunday, the St. Louis County Rescue Squad located a person who was with the group but not involved in the incident.  That person was flown out of the wilderness.

The search continued Sunday evening for the two missing canoeists.

North Air Care, Virginia Fire, MN DNR helicopter and the Minnesota Air Rescue Team are assisting.

An official with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office calls the search effort an “incredibly complex mission in what is one of the most remote and inaccessible locations in the county and possibly the state.”