Park ranger dies responding to call for help when rescue boat capsizes on lake

A parkland ranger died Sunday astatine a Minnesota nationalist parkland erstwhile his rescue vessel capsized connected a water portion helping 3 household members stranded successful precocious winds and unsmooth waters, officials said.

The ranger, who has yet to beryllium publically identified, responded precocious Sunday greeting to a telephone astir a distressed civilian vas connected Namakan Lake astatine Voyageurs National Park, the National Park Service (NPS) said.

The ranger’s vessel capsized arsenic it towed the civilian vas connected the lake. The ranger and 3 civilians who were aboard the NPS vessel were each thrown into the water, officials said.

While the 3 civilians swam to safety, the ranger did not resurface.

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Namakan Lake is 16 miles agelong and 25,130 acres successful size, according to the NPS website. (Emily Kurmis / NPS)

Rangers, on with U.S. Border Patrol, St. Louis County Sheriff's Office, and Kabetogama Fire Department, performed a three-hour hunt and recovered the missing ranger’s assemblage from the water astatine 3:20 p.m., NPS said.

Lashing winds had caused waves betwixt 5 and six feet precocious astatine the clip the ranger was helping the family, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. 

Voyageurs National Park spans 218,000 acres of lakes, forests, and streams successful bluish Minnesota, according to NPS. (NPS)

St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay told the insubstantial that 1 of the rangers who responded said helium had ne'er seen upwind conditions arsenic "wild."

Ramsay said the deceased ranger was experienced and adjacent to retirement.

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"He was conscionable each astir helping others and that’s what helium died doing was helping others," Ramsay told the Star Tribune. "He had a servant’s bosom by each accounts."

The ranger had yet to beryllium publically identified arsenic of Monday morning. (National Park Service)

The ranger is the 2nd to dice astatine a nationalist parkland successful a substance of months.

In June, 78-year-old Park Ranger Tom Lorig died successful Utah aft suffering injuries successful a autumn portion moving with visitors astatine Bryce Canyon National Park’s yearly Astronomy Festival.

The incidental astatine Voyageurs National Park remains nether investigation.

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Voyageurs National Park is located successful bluish Minnesota, with Namakan Lake sitting adjacent the Canadian border.