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Minnesota News
Andrew Krueger and Anna Haecherl

National Guard joins search for 2 missing canoeists in BWCA

a dog stares at a helicopter
A National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter assists local rescue squads as they search the Boundary Waters for two missing canoeists.
St. Louis County Rescue Squad via Facebook

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The Minnesota National Guard has joined the search for two missing canoeists in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday authorized the Guard to assist with the search and rescue operation.

The missing canoeists have been identified as Jesse Haugen, 41, of Cambridge, and Reis Grams, 40, of Lino Lakes.

The two men have been missing since last Saturday. They were among four people who went over Curtain Falls, which drops 30 feet between Crooked and Iron Lakes along the Canadian border. Another man was seriously injured.

The search for the two missing men has been hampered by poor weather and rising water levels.

a dog stares at a helicopter
Rooster, a search and rescue K-9 with the St. Louis County Rescue Squad, watches a National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter as it helps with the BWCA search.
St. Louis County Rescue Squad via Facebook

A National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter helped transport equipment, including a boat, to the remote search scene on Thursday.

The canoeists were fishing above the falls when “something happened, one of them got in distress, the other one tried to give some assistance, and they both ended up going over the falls,” Nate Skelton, division commander with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, told MPR News earlier this week.

Skelton said search teams were concentrating their efforts at the base of the falls earlier this week, where it flows into Iron Lake. If they don’t find anything there, they’d gradually move into Iron Lake. 

Search crews have been using remote operated vehicles, or ROVs — essentially mini-submarines that are used to search underwater in lieu of dive teams. The devices are able to get a clear view underwater using sonar and high-resolution cameras.