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SIOUX CITY | As strong currents again prevented rescue crews from reaching a vehicle submerged in the Missouri River Wednesday, a local family began its third day searching for three relatives who had disappeared Monday around the same time the vehicle went underwater.

Standing at the Missouri riverfront Wednesday afternoon, Fernando and Brenda Rodriguez said, through a translator, that Brenda's parents, Angelica Gonzales and Salomon Medina, and Brenda's sister, 17-year-old Vanessa Medina, had left for the Walmart Supercenter on Floyd Boulevard around 3 p.m. Monday. They have not been seen since then.

The couple, who filed a missing persons report on Tuesday, fears their family could have been involved in Monday's incident. According to police, shortly before 4:20 p.m. Monday, a vehicle described by witnesses as a small dark-colored car went over a curb in a parking lot near the site of the former Argosy riverboat casino and through a chain-link fence before going down the bank and into the Missouri River.

The Rodriguez family said the timeline doesn't work out well in their minds: A friend had said they had seen their family members at Walmart around 4 p.m. But they said they hope authorities will soon be able to identify whoever had driven the vehicle into the river to be sure.