Otter Tail River search ends safely after tuber found near Battle Lake

Relief came late Thursday night near Battle Lake after a 20-year-old West Fargo man who had been tubing with a group was found safe, unharmed and walking on foot in the 27000 block of County Highway 83. What began as a missing-person call at about 9:12 p.m. ended without injury, but only after deputies, volunteers and specialized rescue crews spread out across the river corridor and nearby land.

A female caller contacted dispatch after the man could not be located along the Otter Tail River northwest of Battle Lake. The group had been tubing together when he separated from the others, and they searched for about 10 minutes before reaching the Sheriff’s Office. That short gap was enough to trigger a broad response, reflecting how quickly a routine summer outing can turn into an emergency when someone is not accounted for on the water.

The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office deployed water patrol units, a thermal drone, the Battle Lake Fire and Rescue rescue boat and the Otter Tail County SHERP team to cover both the river and the surrounding ground. Deputies eventually located the man on foot, ending the search safely and avoiding a more serious outcome on a stretch of water that draws heavy warm-weather use from residents and visitors.

The case fits a broader local public-safety pattern in Otter Tail County, where the Sheriff’s Water Patrol is responsible for safety on the county’s lakes and rivers and for regulating those waterways under Minnesota law. The county has said its public safety assets include the SHERP vehicle, the command center vehicle, water patrol and diving assets, overland vehicles and the Sheriff’s Office Ottertail Operations Center, where water patrol and related equipment are based. Those tools matter when a call comes in after dark and teams need to search both shoreline and water fast.

A separate October 2025 search on Otter Tail Lake ended the same way, with a missing boater found safe on shore after an air-and-water response involving the Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota DNR, Battle Lake Rescue and Fire Department and LifeLink. Together, the two incidents show how quickly agencies in the lakes region can assemble boats, drones and land-search units when someone goes missing near the water, even when the ending is a safe one.