Authorities have released the names of the two men who drowned Sunday while tubing on the Red Lake River near Red Lake Falls, Minn.
The bodies of Darrin Austin, 28, of East Grand Forks, and Michael Glover, 24, of Grand Forks, were recovered from the river, the Red Lake County Sheriff's Department said in a news release today.
Austin and Glover were pronounced dead at the scene. No one saw them go under, but it's assumed they drowned, and no foul play is suspected, the sheriff's department said.
Sheriff Mitch Bernstein said Austin and Glover were tubing with three other people, when they became separated from their tubes not far from the County Road 13 bridge. It's believed they were walking in the shallows, but entered deeper water and were not able to reach shore.
At about 6:30 p.m., a person in the tubing group reported that Austin and Glover were missing, but wasn't sure if they had drowned or gone ashore. Officers searched the banks, but found no sign of them.
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Four boat crews started searching for Austin and Glover at about 7:30 p.m. At about 11:45 p.m., Austin's body was found in 9 feet of water roughly 200 yards downstream from where he and Glover were last seen. Glover's body was recovered at about the same depth in the same area close to an hour later.
Their bodies were taken to Grand Forks to undergo autopsies.
Officials anticipate alcohol was a factor in their deaths. The sheriff said a person in the group told authorities Austin and Glover had been drinking.
