Couple trapped in sinking truck calls 911 as river pulls them under, SD cops say

A couple from Oklahoma died after strong currents swept them into a South Dakota river, authorities say.

Patrick and Joan Blake, both 74, were visiting family in Mott, South Dakota, the Hettinger County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

They decided to go for a drive on Sunday, May 1, the sheriff’s office said. As they cruised through rural Hettinger County in their 2017 F-250 pickup truck, they came to a crossing along the Cannonball River, around 1 p.m.

Water was rushing over the crossing, which stretched over a span of the river roughly 3 to 4 feet deep, the sheriff’s office said. The Blakes tried to cross but the truck lost traction and fell into the river.

Water rose around the sinking truck as the current carried downstream. Joan Blake called 911.

The water was up to the doors, she told the operator, and neither she or her husband could escape the cabin.

By the time first responders arrived at the scene, the truck had vanished, the sheriff’s office said.

Dive teams found it hours later, at 6:30 p.m., 1,600 feet away from the crossing, beneath 15 feet of water. Patrick and Joan Blake were both inside, deceased.

The current in the Cannonball River was moving fast on May 1, between 600 and 800 cubic feet per second, according to the sheriff’s office.

Heavy snowfall from a pair of blizzards in recent weeks has been melting, raising water levels across southwest North Dakota, The Dickinson Press reported.

The Blakes lived in Arcadia, Oklahoma, a small town 22 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Couple trapped in sinking truck calls 911 as river pulls them under, SD cops say."