MANHATTAN — One person was rescued from the Kansas River Sunday evening.
The Manhattan Fire Department was dispatched just before 9 p.m. to the Pillsbury Drive viaduct for a report of a person in a kayak struggling in the river’s current. Upon arrival, crews located a person stranded in the middle of the river. Crews deployed a rescue boat and pulled the subject to shore. Riley County Emergency Medical Services took over and transported the patient to Ascension Via Christi.
The fire department says a few minutes later, a 911 caller reported hearing calls for help downstream from the initial accident. Crews searched the river by boat and foot looking for any signs of anyone in distress. An aircraft from the Kansas Highway Patrol assisted in a search. Information was later attained that led authorities to believe the calls for help the caller had reported, happened at the time of the initial rescue. All units cleared the scene at 12:20 a.m.
Assisting with the search was the Riley County Police Department and the Riley County Fire Department. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Department and officers with the Kansas Parks, Recreation, Wildlife, and Tourism, responded with boats but did not deploy.
