Authorities identify woman who drowned Friday trying to rescue dog

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) — Authorities have identified the Valley City woman who drowned Friday trying to rescue her dog from the Sheyenne River as 38-year-old Jodi Kvien Opatz.

The Grand Forks Herald reported that Kvien Opatz called dispatchers about 8:15 a.m. Friday to ask for help in getting her dog out of the river near the Little Dam southwest of Valley City. She told dispatchers she was going to attempt to save the dog, but dispatchers told her to wait for help and not go in the water.

When rescuers arrived, they found the woman in the water.

Valley City Fire Chief Gary Retterath says the dog managed to pull itself out of the water, but it then went back into the river and drowned before rescuers could get to it.

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