(Wahpeton)– Divers resumed their search this (Tues.) morning for a 12-year-old boy who was on a dock barge that sank Saturday afternoon on West Lake Okoboji.
Colin Helmers was on board along with 31-year-old Matthew Molacek…both of Estherville. Molacek’s body was recovered around 12:30 p.m. Monday in about 66 feet of water some 25 feet southwest of the barge wreckage.
Just what caused the barge to go down remains a mystery. Mark Petersen, an incident commander for the Okoboji Underwater Search and Rescue Team, says divers haven’t gotten a good look at the barge. He says their top priority for now is to wrap up the recovery operation. Once that’s done, he says attention will turn to bringing up the barge and investigating what it was that caused the tragedy.
In an emotional interview with KUOO news, Colin Helmer’s parents, Randy and Carla Helmers expressed their sincere gratitude to the various agencies involved in the search for their son. Randy says the lakes area community has done so much to help them be able to see their son one final time. Helmers said lakes area residents should do all they can to support the various dive and rescue teams that are working to find Colin. He says they can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done. Helmers says if there’s a silver lining in any of this, it would have to be that dive and rescue crews will have had some experience in looking for someone in the deepest part of West Lake Okoboji…an area divers have seldom gone to in the past.
Carla Helmers expressed her appreciation as well to the volunteers. Randy described them as being heroes, saying “they’re heroes to us. They think they’re just doing something, but they’re heroes for us.”
The search for Colin resumed around 8:00 this morning. A heavy, dark overcast has been predominant throughout the day.
