San Miguel River, Texas – A 52-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was rescued Tuesday morning after a commercial raft carrying her and three other passengers hit a rock and went overboard in San Miguel River. She spent about 10 minutes in the cold, fast-moving water and was unconscious and unable to breathe until a guide performed two cycles of CPR.
Two rafts, three guides, and nine passengers were part of the float trip. They were all wearing personal flotation devices.
One of the other passengers pulled her to the boat, and the woman was lifted in. The guide was able to land the ship in a strainer near a house and passengers exit called 911. The emergency landing of the raft caused one of the passengers to get stuck in the filter and had to be rescued by the others.
The woman was then loaded onto an ambulance from Norwood and taken to the Uncompahgre Medical Center. A helicopter transported her to Montrose Memorial Hospital, and Undersheriff Eric Berg provided patient care as he arrived at the scene.
The victim, from a small town near Houston, was hypothermic with orthopedic trauma aside from the cold water drowning. The sheriff’s office said she was expected to recover, according to a report by Cortez Journal.
The water had a temperature of 38 degrees. Two other rafters were pulled back in the boat while the woman was carried downstream for about half-mile, as informed by public information officer for the sheriff’s office Susan Lily. All of the swimmers were wearing a life vest.
San Miguel Sheriff Bill Masters praised the job done by the river guides and noted that the river was ripping, and strainers, rocks, and fast waters made it tricky, Cortez Journal reported.
The Ridgway Independent Guide Services, of Ridgeway, was operating the two-boat expedition. Owner Tim Patterson said the guides’ efforts had been remarkable and that his firm was lucky to have them.
“We train for this extensively and do everything to avoid situations like this. In this case, the guides responded swiftly and professionally to deal with the incident,” Patterson said in a statement.
Source: Cortez Journal