Kids and teachers cling to rocks and yell for help in rushing river, Oregon cops say
Middle school kids and teachers clung to rocks and yelled for help in a rushing river in Oregon, deputies said.
Rescuers responded at about 3:28 p.m. May 22 to the Rogue River near Huntley Park, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
The group, on a school trip from Cedarville, California, heard the park was a good place to swim, deputies said.
But when the five kids and two teachers got into the water, it turned into a dangerous rescue.
“The subjects were yelling that they could not hang on to the rocks any longer,” deputies said.
Rescuers swept away in river
Two police officers and a deputy jumped into the water and swam across the river to save them.
As they did, a deputy, officer, teacher and student were swept downstream, authorities said.
Additional deputies got to the river about 15 minutes later in a patrol boat and were less than a mile downstream from the park.
First, deputies said they rescued an officer they saw struggling to stay above water. Then they helped a teacher and a student.
The operator of a private guided fishing boat saw one of the officers and a deputy in the water, so he pulled them onto his boat along with three other people he saw clinging to rocks, deputies said.
Authorities said they helped the rest of the people clinging to rocks and took them to safety.
The teachers, students and one officer were taken to a hospital where they were treated for “different stages of hypothermia.”
Deputies warned the Rogue River has cold water that can cause hypothermia, and the water is flowing high.
Huntley Park is in southwestern Oregon near the California border.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Kids and teachers cling to rocks and yell for help in rushing river, Oregon cops say."
