(Council Bluffs) Emergency crews responded Thursday afternoon to the Missouri River near the east side of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge following a report of a man in the water.
Council Bluffs police and fire personnel were dispatched at approximately 4:31 p.m. after a witness reported seeing a man floating on a log on the north side of the bridge. The witness briefly spoke with the man before he went underwater. The witness did not see him resurface.
Multiple agencies joined the search, including the Council Bluffs Fire Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and Omaha Airport Authority Fire/Rescue. Rescue boats searched the river for several hours, while the Omaha Police Department’s helicopter, ABLE-1, conducted an aerial search.
At approximately 6:47 p.m., members of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office located the man underwater in a cove south of the pedestrian bridge on the Iowa side of the river. Omaha Airport Authority rescue personnel recovered him and brought him to shore near Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park.
Council Bluffs Fire Department medics pronounced the man deceased at the scene.
Detectives do not currently believe the death was suspicious. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the possibility that the man was experiencing a mental health crisis when he entered the river. Authorities are withholding his identity until they notify his family.
Rescue crews reported that the Missouri River’s current was extremely strong and volatile because of recent storms and rainfall. Officials are urging the public to stay out of the river because of dangerously high water levels and the significant amount of debris the storms carried into the river.
