Linn County Sheriff’s personnel spent the latter part of last week searching the North Santiam River near the Mill City Bridge for a missing male, Karandeep Singh, 18, who is believed to have drowned after jumping into the river Tuesday evening, Oct. 7.
Sheriff Michelle Duncan said Singh was walking with friends near the river around 10 p.m. on Oct. 7. According to the Sheriff’s Office, he had been drinking and told friends he was going to get into the river.
Singh did not know how to swim but had been in the shallow waters of the river before. His friends tried to stop him, but he jumped in the river in an area that was much deeper than where he had been previously, Duncan said.
According to witnesses, he was pulled into the current and has not been seen since. Two of his friends entered the river and tried to save him but were unsuccessful and lost sight of him.
It was not until the next morning, on Oct. 8, that his friends reported the incident to a third person, and it was eventually reported to law enforcement. Part of the delay was due to a language barrier.
Recovery efforts for Singh began the morning of Oct. 9, when Sheriff’s Water Rescue Team divers began their search of the river where the male was believed to have entered. The team was unable to get a traditional boat to the area, so three divers on a rescue watercraft searched the area, first with an underwater camera.
Divers then dove areas they could not get to with the camera. They searched under and around large boulders where the body could have been stuck. The waters in this particular area are running very fast with a large amount of underwater debris and entanglement hazards, so the divers had to use extreme caution while conducting the search. Before and during the search of the area with divers, multiple deputies from Linn and Marion County searched a larger area of the river with drones.
Although Singh had several people on scene that were close to him and were kept updated on search efforts, he was not known to have family in the United States. Deputies worked with the Consulate of India who were able to notify the family abroad.