UPDATE (July 9, 8:30a): UPDATE (July 9 8:25a): The family tells 23ABC the woman who went missing in the Kern River at Hart Park Saturday is Kim Lapp, 36. Family said they are from Long Beach and floated in the Kern River last year, so they decided to float again this year.
UPDATE (July 9, 4:28a): On July 8, 2017 around 10:30 a.m., volunteers with the Kern County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Unit responded to a report of five subjects in distress in the Kern River near Hart Park.
Prior to their arrival, three of the subjects managed to safely exit the river, but an adult male man had become trapped on brush and trees in the middle of the river. Personnel with the Bakersfield City Fire Department arrived on scene first and were able to safely rescue the man; however, an adult woman from the group remained missing.
Boat teams from the Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit and the Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit coordinated a search down river from the point the woman was last seen. After several hours of searching, the woman still had not been located. Searchers suspended the operation for the evening but will resume the search Sunday morning.
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UPDATE (12:05p): Crews have confirmed that three people are out of the Kern River at Hart Park. One person was rescued and one person remains missing.
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UPDATE (11:53a): Crews were able to safely pull a man out of the Kern River at Hart Park. Radio traffic suggests officials are still searching for a woman who was last seen going down river.
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The Kern County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue as well as Bakersfield Fire Department are responding to Hart Park for reports of a river rescue.
Initial radio traffic suggests one person is in the middle of the river hanging on to vegetation and another was seen going down stream.
23ABC has a crew on the way, check back for updates.
