UPDATE March 28: The two men who died last week when a garbage truck went into the James River near Letcher have been identified.

According to the Daily Republic 46-year-old Travis Meyer, of Howard, and 61-year-old Glen White, of Canova, died due to injuries sustained in a crash that led authorities to the site on the James River Saturday.

Investigators have said an equipment failure may have caused the truck the two men were in to go off the right side of the road and into the river.


UPDATE: According to the Associated Press, the bodies of two men who were reported missing on Thursday have been found, along with the garbage truck they were driving.

"Authorities in South Dakota have recovered the bodies of two men who died when the garbage truck they were in went into a flooded river. The men drove the truck away from the Mitchell landfill on Thursday. They were reported missing Friday. Authorities began searching the James River in Sanborn County after discovering a damaged guardrail on state Highway 37 near Letcher."


Search crews were on the scene over the weekend looking for two men who have been missing since Thursday, March 21 after they were last seen leaving the Mitchell landfill.

According to the Mitchell Daily Republic, law enforcement agencies were on scene where the James River crosses under Highway 37 north of Mitchell in Sanborn County. Three boats with sonar searched the James River where officials believe a garbage truck with two people inside went off the highway and into the river.

On Friday the Miner County Sheriff’s Office received phone calls from the family members of the two men saying they had not been seen since Thursday.  The two men and their truck were last seen around 12:10 PM Thursday when they left the Mitchell landfill.

Agencies began searching near the James River in Sanborn County due to a guardrail that had been damaged on South Dakota Highway 37 near the James River Bridge.

Authorities from several agencies began the search Saturday on the James River, using rescue boats and the state Highway Patrol plane. The speed of the flood waters on the river has made the search difficult.  The search was halted by darkness Saturday night, but resumed Sunday morning.

Source: Mitchell Daily Republic and sd.gov

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