GREAT FALLS — Montana authorities say a 44-year-old woman drowned after falling into an irrigation canal.
Cascade County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Van Dyken says in a statement Tuesday that a passerby spotted Melissa Lesofski caught in turbulent water below a gate in the canal on Monday.
Van Dyken says the man jumped in and pulled Lesofski to the edge of the canal and others helped to pull her out.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Van Dyken says the initial investigation found that Lesofski accidentally fell into the canal.
He says it’s not known why she got out of her car there, and the investigation is continuing.