A former seminary student at Benedictine College is presumed drowned after rescuing a woman while kayaking in Wichita.

Officials say two men and three women in separate kayaks on the Arkansas River Saturday when they hit churning water. Brian Bergkamp was not wearing a life jacket according to officials, but witnesses said he jumped into the water to help a woman who fell in. The woman, and the other kayakers, made it to the shore safely, but Bergkamp was carried away by strong river currents and never surfaced.

Officials now say he is presumed dead. Friends and family began vigils to pray for the recovery of his body.

Bergkamp, 24, a Garden Plain, Kan. native, was a student at Benedictine for one year in 2010. He was scheduled to enter his third year of theology study at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

(Staff and wire reports)