The search for a person missing after a boat capsized on the Des Moines River near Runnells and Swan Saturday evening is ongoing. Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdt says the incident occurred near Bennington Boat ramp, where multiple boats were on the water.

“There were a couple of gentlemen in a flat bottom boat that ended up running out of gas, and there were three subjects in an air boat that came down and saw the people out of gas and were going to try and assist them to get back to the boat ramp,” Sandholdt says. “When they hooked up the two boats to try and get them down here, the air boat flipped upside down, throwing the people into the water that were in the airboat — there were two males and a female, and one of the males and the female were able to make to shore, and the third person, we’re not sure of right now.”

Sandholdt says the search is ongoing today for the third person both in the water and on land.

“Today, we have a lot of search and rescue personnel, we have a lot of boats, and right now, we’re trying to get things organized on our aspect of it, even with law enforcement, fire, and rescue,” he says. “I know a lot of friends and family want to help and one of the biggest things right now, when there is such a large, open area, it’s not so much maybe the water aspect of help, but there’s certain areas obviously over around Swan where we’ve had some of the volunteers go to, but the biggest thing is to stay in groups. Obviously, we don’t want one or two people out there and then have them have issues, and then we have to go look for them. It’s kind of that balance of yeah, people want to help, but there has to be some organization along with that also.”

Several emergency agencies have responded, including the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa DNR, Knoxville Fire and Rescue, Pleasantville Fire, Prairie City Fire, Runnells Fire, Marion County Emergency Management, and possibly others. The Knoxville Hy-Vee has provided food to those working.