Two believed dead after truck slid off I-94 into river

Emergency teams will resume the search Wednesday for the passenger in a semi-trailer truck that slid off Interstate 94 into a Wisconsin river.

The State Patrol says a semi slid off a snow-covered interstate in western Wisconsin and landed in a river.

The State Patrol says the truck was submerged in the Red Cedar River near Menomonie after crossing the median and going over an embankment.

Wisconsin State Patrol lieutenant Jeff Lorentz said they confirmed one death.

"We had fire, law enforcement, rescue, and everything. We did have a dive team out there," Lorentz said.

He said the rescuers were able to attach cables to the truck in the water, and remove it from the river. It took several hours to do the removal.

"When they were able to get the semi tractor and trailer out of the water, they did discover a body in the cab itself," Lorentz said.

He said authorities believe that the body was that of the driver. Another person is believed to have been in the truck at the time of the crash, he said, but rescuers have not recovered another body.

The truck was based out of Lansing, Michigan. The name of the trucking company is withheld, but company officials told Wisconsin authorities there were two people travelling in the truck.

A slow-moving winter storm in parts of western Wisconsin on Tuesday caused dozens of schools to cancel classes, including the districts of La Crosse, Black River Falls, Toman and Prairie du Chien The Univeristy of Wisconsin-Platteville and Viterbo University in La Crosse also called off classes Tuesday as travel conditions deteriorated.

Associated Press contribute to this report.