Midland Kayaker Found Dead After Getting Stuck Under Dam

This is just a brutal situation out of mid-Michigan.

Kayaker Found Dead After Getting Pinned Under Midland Dam

According to ABC 12, a 50-year-old man from Midland was found dead on Saturday after his kayak got stuck under a dam on the Tittabawassee River. It all started with a call around 11:45 in the morning about an unmanned kayak lodged under the dam near Dow property. That’s never a good sign.

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When crews got there, they found the man stuck under the dam as well.

He was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn’t been released yet as they work to notify the family.

There were a lot of agencies involved trying to help, including local police and fire, the Midland County dive team, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, and several others. An autopsy is scheduled, and the investigation is still ongoing.

Honestly, this is the kind of thing people don’t really think about until it happens. Rivers can look calm, especially this time of year, but areas around dams are a whole different animal. The current can get nasty fast, and if something gets pulled under or pinned, there’s just not much you can do.

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What’s really tough here is that it’s still not clear how he ended up stuck under the dam in the first place. Investigators haven’t said exactly what led up to it, so there are still a lot of unanswered questions.