On Monday morning, the Dutch police resumed their search for two missing men who had jumped into the Maas near Venlo in an attempt to retrieve a lost smartphone. Initially, the police had planned to resume the search later in the day, but it was determined that it was necessary to continue earlier.
The two men, aged 21 and 22 and residents of Germany, had gone missing on Sunday morning after entering the Maas in search of their phone. The emergency services had immediately launched a large-scale search effort on Sunday morning, but had to call it off on Sunday evening around 7:30 PM. Prior to that, a police sonar boat had detected signs of one or possibly two drowning individuals in the Maas.
Dredging operations were initiated at the location identified by the sonar boat around 5:30 PM on Sunday, and the search will continue in that area on Monday afternoon. According to reports from witnesses, at around 6:45 am on Sunday morning, three men had entered the Maas in search of their phone. One of them initially went into the water to retrieve it, prompting the second man to jump in to assist. The third man also entered the water to help. Unfortunately, only one man was able to make it back to shore safely. It is believed that the other two men were swept away by strong currents in the Maas and did not resurface.
