Young German men drowned after phone falls into Maas River; Search continues today

The two people who drowned in the Maas river in Venlo on Sunday are two young German men, ages 21 and 22, the police reported. The search for their bodies will resume today. Witnesses said that they ended up in the water after one young man’s phone fell in.

The two young men jumped into the water at the Maaskade around 6:45 a.m. on Sunday. According to witnesses, one victim jumped in from the quay after his phone. To help him, his friend jumped into the water 30 meters away. Both disappeared and haven’t been found.

The current on the Maas was high on Sunday, and the water was very cold, the police said. The current can carry drowning people over a great distance.

The fire brigade launched a rescue operation immediately after the pair was reported missing. At 9:30 a.m., the police took over searching with a sonar boat. At around 5:30 p.m., the sonar boat seemed to have found something, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

“The sonar boat picked up a signal several times,” a police spokesperson told RTL Nieuws. “We found all kinds of things, but unfortunately, not the two boys.” The police called off the search at 7:30 p.m. and will resume it on Monday morning.

A third man, a 36-year-old man from Venlo, saw the two young Germans disappear into the water and jumped in to try to help them. He couldn’t find them and managed to get back to dry land under his own power. He wasn’t injured.