Survivor of BWCA canoe accident reports fatal experience

IRON LAKE, Minn. (FOX 9) – Erik Grams says he and his brother Reis have been going to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) for over 30 years.

But now the setting of so many happy memories is a source of sadness.

“My brother was my best friend. He was my business partner. So I’m still in the grieving process and there’s a void that will never be fully filled,” Grams said.

Grams said he and Reis were in a canoe at his brother’s favorite fishing spot, Curtain Falls near the Canadian border, on May 18 when the canoe carrying two of their friends capsized near the top of the falls.

Grams said Kyle Sellers fell down the 30-foot drop while clinging to his boat while Jesse Haugen tried to swim to the Grams’ canoe.

But as soon as he got there, the current pulled all three of them over the waterfall.

“It was basically an impossible rescue attempt, but we didn’t want to leave our brother there at the falls,” Grams said.

The next thing he remembers is being ten feet underwater, swimming toward daylight, before being pulled underwater twice more and finally reaching the shore.

He heard Sellers on an island a little downstream, but there was no sign of Haugen or his brother.

“It sounds strange, but I almost mourned underwater and knew immediately how bad the situation was,” said Grams.

Grams says the next two weeks were like Groundhog Day, hoping and praying for a miracle until search parties found Haugen’s body on Friday and Reis’s body on Monday.

But Grams says the families of both men are grateful for the closure they desperately needed.

“This is not something that will ever go away, but we will do everything we can to make something positive out of this situation. And I will honor my brother and Jesse for the rest of my life as best I can. Every day. Every minute,” Grams said.

Grams suffered a triple fracture of his pelvis during the ordeal, while Sellers suffered a broken leg.

A GoFundMe campaign has also been set up to help the families of the two deceased men.

Grams says both his brother and Haugen were dedicated to their families, churches and communities.

Grams says his brother actually planned to go on a mission trip to Mexico in the fall to build homes for the homeless.

Now Grams and his wife will take Reis’ place.