Beltrami County Man Dies After Truck Plunges Into Mississippi River

A man died Friday afternoon after his pickup truck left Sunnyside Road in Frohn Township, crossed through a residential yard and plunged into the Mississippi River east of Bemidji, with bystanders watching helplessly as the vehicle sank before they could pull him out.

Beltrami County dispatch received the 911 call at 4:43 p.m. on March 20. The reporting party told dispatchers that no one had exited the truck before it became submerged. When emergency personnel reached the scene, bystanders had already attempted to reach the occupant, but the pickup sank too quickly for any rescue effort to succeed, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office.

The Lakes Area Dive Team was called in to attempt an extraction. Divers recovered the man's body from the submerged vehicle at approximately 6:30 p.m., nearly two hours after the initial call. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the lone occupant of the truck.

Sheriff Jason Riggs said the man's identity is being withheld pending positive identification and notification of family. "No additional information will be released at this time," Riggs said in a release. "The cause of why the vehicle left the roadways is currently under investigation."

The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office was assisted at the scene by the Bemidji Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol, the Department of Natural Resources Enforcement, Bemidji Fire Department, North Country First Responders and the Beltrami County Emergency Communications Center.