Minn. man installing pipe drowns in N. Dakota lake

Published 6:56 pm Saturday, October 22, 2011

 

BISMARCK, N.D. — A 32-year-old underwater welder from Minnesota has drowned after his equipment became tangled while working on a water system on North Dakota’s Lake Sakakawea.

The McLean County Sheriff’s Office said Joseph Patrick Gordon Gould, of Brook Park had been installing pipe 125 feet below the surface of the lake Wednesday when his equipment became tangled and he was trapped.

Email newsletter signup

A coworker tried to free Gould but was unsuccessful. Gould was an employee of the Midco Diving Company of Rapid City, S.D.

Officials say they continue to investigate the death.