Second death confirmed in Oregon waterfall accident; search ongoing for third person

USA Today

22-07-2025

A second death was confirmed in a fatal waterfall accident in central Oregon as search and rescue operations entered a third day on July 21, authorities said.
Divers with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team located and recovered the body of the second victim shortly after 11 a.m. local time on July 21, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The agency reported that the victim was discovered below Dillon Falls on the Deschutes River.
The accident occurred on the afternoon of July 19 when a group of six people was swept over Dillon Falls, which are rapids on the Deschutes River about 10 miles southwest of the city of Bend. The sheriff's office said it received a report of the incident at about 2:57 p.m. local time and immediately launched search and rescue efforts.
One person died at the scene, and three others were rescued from the river and transported by ambulance to a hospital in Bend, according to the sheriff's office. On July 21, the sheriff's office confirmed that the two people killed in the incident are female, and the one person who remains missing is male.
"The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office extends its deepest condolences to the families affected and remains committed to exhausting all possibilities in the ongoing search effort," the sheriff's office said in the statement.
The sheriff's office has not released the identities of those involved in the accident, noting that the investigation is ongoing. Other law enforcement agencies have also assisted in search and rescue efforts, including the Bend Police Department, Bend Fire and Rescue, and AirLink Critical Care Transport, which provides emergency air medical transport.
Search and rescue crews have used boats, drones, swift water rescue teams, and K-9 units to "search, map, and narrow down high-probability locations along the river corridor between the Dillon Falls Day Use Area above the falls and the Aspen Day Use Area below the falls," according to the sheriff's office.
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Dillon Falls is known for being a powerful, dangerous rapid
Dillon Falls, located within Deschutes National Forest, is a series of "quick-drop rapids" along the Deschutes River, according to central Oregon's tourist information center. The 15-foot waterfall is known for being a dangerous Class V rapid, the Salem Statesman Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Rivers are rated on a "class scale" to determine the size and technicality of the whitewater, a term used to describe rapids or rivers and creeks that have a significant number of rapids, according to Western River Expeditions.
"(Class V rapids are) extremely difficult, long, and very violent rapids with highly congested routes, which should be scouted from shore," Wet Planet Whitewater states on its website. "Rescue conditions are difficult, and there is a significant hazard to life in the event of a mishap. Class V is the upper limit of what is possible in a commercial raft."
The Dillon Falls Day Use Area is a popular spot for outdoor recreation, such as hiking, water activities, picnicking, and viewing the waterfall, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The waterfall has also been the site of other tragedies in previous years.
In 2022, a 41-year-old man died while floating over Dillon Falls in an innertube, the Salem Statesman Journal reported. At the time, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office said it received a 911 call reporting that a man "in a tube had gone over the falls 30-35 minutes prior to the call and bystanders had not been able to locate the male."
In 2018, a blind athlete from Bend and her father lost control of their canoe in the waters above Dillon Falls, resulting in the father's death, the Bend Bulletin reported.
Bend is about 132 miles southeast of Oregon's capital city of Salem.
Contributing: Zach Urness, Salem Statesman Journal