‘We will be going as long as we can’: Search continues along Missouri River for 3 missing girls
By Quanecia Fraser
Click here for updates on this story
OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Search crews moved farther down the Missouri River Thursday, in the search for three missing girls.
Four girls were swept away at the NP Dodge Park. One was able to make it to shore.
Family members say 18-year-olds Laiana Green and Lah K Tray Moo, and 12-year-old Eh Cress Moo are still missing.
First responders say they want to bring closure to the family of the girls. In the meantime, a refugee advocacy organization says it plans to do more to teach families about river safety.
“We will be going as long as we can today, going up and down the river,” said Capt. Kristopher Peterson, with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Manning several boats, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Omaha Fire Department continued their search at NP Dodge Park.
“Trying to control the boat, in (an) appropriate manner to where we want the boats to go,” Peterson explained. “The wind can push us around quite a bit with the high winds.”
Along with boats, drone technology is crucial too.
“The current comes from this way, hits the finger dike, pushes out really fast and hard, it will come out. It’ll carry you away. There’s two options — it can either take you out into the channel or bring you back in behind the finger dike where all the debris is,” explained Deputy Paul Wartenbee.
Non-profit Restoring Dignity says it wants refugee families to be aware of that danger.
In August 2021, 7-year-old Abi Gurung drowned at NP Dodge Park.
“As a result of what has happened with these drownings, we are going to add a safety component to our classes to teach families that Missouri River’s very dangerous,” said Hannah Vlach with Restoring Dignity.
Vlach said the plan is to show videos that demonstrate what can happen when you get into the river.
“And to teach other precautions about other bodies of water too, which might be different from the landscape that they came from in their country, and so we need to educate about what’s safe here in Omaha, so this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Capt. Peterson said they’re paying attention to the potential for severe weather on Thursday. If it gets bad enough, he said, crews will stop the search and continue once it’s safe again.
The sheriff’s office is also urging the public to stay away from the area where the search is being conducted for now.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
