Woman dies after being caught in milfoil

A 23-year-old woman died Wednesday after she spent 10 minutes trapped below the surface of Horseshoe Lake by milfoil.

Rachell Wood, of Elk, and her friends attempted to swim from the public access point to some waterfalls on Wednesday when they became tangled in milfoil, the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office said.

Wood’s three friends swam to the shore, but they couldn’t find her in the murky water. After a few minutes they flagged some people on a boat who pulled her from the water, police said.

Med Star transported Wood to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where she later died, according to a nursing supervisor.