BISMARCK – Authorities are searching for a missing 74-year-old Bismarck man.
At about 5 p.m. Monday a woman called 911 to report her husband left home around 9 a.m. to check some hunting locations, but he never returned home.
First responders searched that area of the Heart River Monday night until it was too dark to see.
"We got the last known location and knew he came out here to check some trails out," said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. "At that point we found the duck boat that he uses. It was capsized and it was stuck into an ice jam."
They had no luck on finding the 74-year-old man, but the search resumed Tuesday morning.
Burleigh County’s Swift Water Rescue Team, Mandan Rural Fire, North Dakota Highway Patrol and the Morton County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team were all on site.
"We know he’s out here. Just at this point, he can’t be located," the sheriff said.
Kirchmeier said there’s no way to know for certain what caused the boat to capsize.
"Just the way the water is: it’s fast moving with ice chunks coming through it. There’s about a hundred yard stretch that’s open and I feel the individual was trying to cross the river and for some reason didn’t make it out."
And there’s very little information to work with.
The land where the man went missing belongs to his brother-in-law. His family says he’s been taking the same trip to the river for years.
