Prayer request: missing seminarian—UPDATED

Details: 

Recovery crews are searching for a man gone missing from a group of kayakers in the Arkansas River near the 21st Street bridge in northwest Wichita.

The call came out at about 8:40 a.m. Battalion Chief Frank Buck of the Wichita Fire Department said the crews are searching for a man who became separated from a group of five kayakers.

“The report was he was not wearing a life vest,” Buck said.

Buck said all of the other victims have been accounted for and are OK.

UPDATE: 

The Catholic Diocese of Wichita has released a statement naming the  kayaker missing from the Arkansas River as one of their own:

“The person missing in the Arkansas River is a seminarian from the Diocese of Wichita, Brian Bergkamp. Our focus at this time is finding Brian and providing support to his family. We would be most grateful for prayers for them.” – Fr. Mike Simone, Director of Vocations, Catholic Diocese of Wichita

Some additional information, from the Wichita Eagle:

A man whom rescuers spent all day Saturday trying to find in the Arkansas River helped a struggling woman out of the water before going under, according to the Wichita Fire Department.

The man has been identified as Brian Bergkamp, 24, a native of Garden Plain who was scheduled to enter his third year of theology study at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., this fall.

Firefighters decided around 7 p.m. to suspend the search for Bergkamp until early Sunday morning.

A Sedgwick County emergency dispatch supervisor said the submersion was reported at 8:40 a.m. Saturday. Swollen by recent rains, the river’s current was moving at between 5 and 8 knots, according to Wichita Fire Battalion Chief Frank Buck. That’s up to 9 mph.

UPDATE: Family and friends are continuing to pray for Brian Bergkamp, as a rescue mission has turned into a recovery operation. Read the latest.