Latest news with #rafting
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bruno Guimarães, Dan Burn and Isak go rafting in Austria
Watch Newcastle United's squad go rafting in Austria as part of a fun team bonding session during their training camp.
CBS News
7 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Survivor recounts near-death experience rafting on American River in Carmichael
A survivor is speaking out about a rafting accident that nearly took her life. It happened along the lower American River, where there have been multiple water rescues so far this year. Romni Neiman is still troubled by a near-death experience. She is hoping her story will encourage other people to stay safe when going in the water. "I've had nightmares of the sound of water rushing around you," Neiman said. She and her partner decided to go floating in intertubes on a sunny day two weeks ago. "We thought we would just glide down," Neiman said. "I did bring paddles so that if we needed to get moving, we could use them." A smiling photo she took at the beginning of the day shows no sign of the danger that was about to occur. The two got caught in a strong current that swept them past the shoreline at Riverbend Park in Carmichael, where they intended to get out. "We just could not get over the current was picking up," Neiman said. The force of the water then carried their inner tubes right into the path of a partially submerged tree. "A floatie with a cooler got sucked down underneath the tree, and since my tube was attached, I went right down with it," Neiman said. Her partner ended up in an even worse spot. "His tube popped on the branches on the end of the tree and he ended up holding on to the very end of the tree, and just a handhold and his legs were getting blown straight back from the current," Neiman said. Some people floating by called 911 and came to help until Sacramento Metro Fire's rescue boat arrived on the scene. Metro Fire Captain Mark Nunez says it's been a busy summer for rescue crews along this stretch of waterway, and he says nearly everyone who needs help isn't properly prepared. "The common denominator with victims is they didn't come down in the right type of raft and they didn't have a life vest," he said. Neiman admits she didn't have a life jacket, and she wants others to learn from her mistake. "Hopefully, other people could hear this and make different decisions," Neiman said. Metro Fire encourages people to rent or purchase a raft with multiple air chambers, and they say free loaner life jackets are available at many parks along the American Ramos contributed to this report.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Yahoo
Search for father missing in Cuyahoga River continues
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (WJW) — Ten days after he vanished beneath the raging waters of the Cuyahoga River, the search for a 27-year-old father continues. Patrick Cross was rafting in the river above the falls here when the raft on which he and his five-year-old son Braxton were riding capsized. Body found in Erie County identified as missing Cleveland man: I-Team The body of his son was recovered downstream near the Gorge Park the following day, but Patrick, who was last seen in the river near the High Bridge Park, continues. 'We are ten days in now we have allowed our operations to evolve based on the available resources, condition of the river family desires and just the overall difficulty of what we are dealing with,' said Cuyahoga Falls Fire Chief Chris Martin adding 'Our operations right now don't look much like they did a week ago.' One week ago, the river was raging after previous torrential rains. 'The water was so high that kayakers, even the experienced ones aren't going to come down here and risk running it, the level of water two weekends ago was just incredibly high its not safe to paddle the falls by any means when the river is that high,' said Don Howdyshell, an experienced white water kayaker who also is the coordinator of the Cuyahoga Falls Fest. Howdyshell said he and members of the Cuyahoga Falls Fest safety team are not only experienced at navigating the dangerous currents when the river is swollen, but they also constantly monitor changes in the river. Ashland County mother whose 6-year-old son was attacked by family dog while handcuffed sentenced to prison Because of their expertise, they were invited to help the fire department's water team with their search. 'We know every time a rock moves, we know when wood moves in, we know when wood floats down river, we watch for it to come into the falls if it comes up river. We literally study the river, it's what keeps us safe, knowing everything that's going on with the river, with rock shifts or woody debris coming down. The more we know about it, the safer we are, so that goes in with scouting every time we come out here,' Howdyshell said. 'At some point, you are checking the exact same spot dozens and dozens of times, and what we need is for the condition of the river to get to a point where we can actually have some visual help with that. The condition of the river has actually changed dramatically for the better. We are able to get to positions and locations on the river that we are very interested in. We are there now, but it's still not to the point where we can search absolutely everything we need to,' Martin said. With as many times as some of the same areas have been searched, there are places in the river where searchers are certain Cross is not. And with the evolving water depth and currents, they have used drones to help them search areas of the river that have been difficult to reach. Where are fireworks illegal in Northeast Ohio? 'At first, it was the water depth and the speed of the water moving it made conditions really tough to get not only up river but to get to certain parts of the river that were flooded out and hard to access,' said Fire Lt. Ben Kerner, the fire department's Co-water team leader. 'After that, it's been the heat, and the heat played a major role affecting our operations, just getting multiple crews in cycling them through, making sure they are not too exhausted and they are getting proper break time in the shade. Now that the water is down its also equally hard to access certain areas by boat so we are finding that we are going on foot a lot more, going on banks getting up to chest deep in water poking into strainers and other objects that we couldn't see when the water was high.' The fire department has also had assistance from multiple mutual aid agencies, including the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Summit Metro Parks and others. Those who have been involved in the difficult, heartbreaking search are being allowed to access counseling during a de-briefing scheduled for Thursday. With the condition of the river in the search area, as well as access to the area, still dangerous and difficult to navigate, Martin continues to urge citizens not to attempt to join them in their search efforts, assuring the community that the efforts will continue daily at least through Monday, July 7. 'Providing closure at a time like this is extremely difficult. It's heart-wrenching, but really our message to the family and to everyone really is that we are here for the family and we are not going away,' said Martin. 'And our hearts break. It's hard to have these conversations and not break down, yourself. You have got to stay strong and you have to be there for the family, but we are in a position where we have to stay operations-based at the same time.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NHK
01-07-2025
- General
- NHK
Riding the rapids on Japan's last log rafts
Deep in rural Wakayama, a centuries-old river rafting tradition is making waves with its first-ever female crew member steering both the raft and a cultural shift.
RNZ News
29-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Your leg or your life: Inside a perilous 24-hour wild river rescue
By Monique Ross and Robyn Powell , ABC Australian Story met Valdas in Lithuania. Photo: Supplied / Australian Story / Tom Hancock Valdas jumps from one boulder to another. It's a simple rock hop, one he's made hundreds of times in his 50 years of rafting. But this time, in the remote and rugged Tasmanian wilderness, it goes horribly wrong. Valdas slips - and falls into the thundering rapids of the Franklin River. His left leg jams in a narrow gap between two boulders. "My friends tied ropes around me and tried hauling me out," Valdas tells Australian Story in Lithuania. "But the leg was so tightly wedged that their efforts were fruitless." Around 13 tonnes of water per second are flowing down the river, pouring onto him. It is the beginning of a harrowing 24-hour ordeal, and one of the most complex rescue operations in the state's history. For the first time, Australian Story can reveal the extraordinary setbacks rescuers had to overcome during the precarious mission, including serious injury and unexpected equipment failure. Crews have also spoken in detail about how they confronted the option of last resort - a high-risk underwater amputation. "I felt so conflicted. If this goes ahead, you might kill him," Intensive Care flight paramedic Rohan Kilham says. "But even if it all goes perfectly, he'll never be the same again." Valdas is an experienced adventurer, drawn to the freedom of wild places and the adrenaline rush of a challenging river run. The 66-year-old Lithuanian has travelled the world with a group of paddling mates, trying to tick off a river on five continents. The last stop on their mission was Australia, and an epic multi-day pack-rafting journey along the Franklin River. On 22 November 2024, the group of 11 is five days in. They're in the Great Ravine, a spectacular and formidable gorge. They decide the conditions aren't right to run the rapid ahead; instead they will portage their catarafts down this stretch of the river. Valdas scouts the route ahead on foot. It's after midday when he loses his footing. "I think it was my hydro-boot with its hard sole that made it slippery on rock," says Valdas, speaking to Australian media for the first time. In a split second, he is trapped at Coruscades rapid; submerged up to his chest in cold water, about 10 degrees Celsius. For 40 minutes, the rafters try to free their friend. When all their efforts fail, they send an SOS message via satellite phone. "All of us were lost. We felt uncertainty and we didn't know how everything will finish," Lithuanian rafter Arvydas Rudokas says. Over the next five hours, police, paramedics, doctors and swift water rescuers are winched into the remote scene. They use spreaders, hydraulics and airbags in a bid to create space between the boulders trapping Valdas's leg. They drill a tripod into the rocks to create a pulley system and shift his body in various directions to try to extricate him. "The rescuer even grabbed me by the waist to haul me up, but my leg wouldn't budge," Valdas recalls. "I think, if he'd been stronger, like Schwarzenegger, he might have managed to uproot me, leaving the leg behind." The rescuers consider every idea, no matter how outlandish it seems. Every attempt fails. "How does someone's leg go into a crack and not come out?" paramedic Rohan says. "Surely there's a way - there's always a way. "And there wasn't." As the hours pass, the rescuers are repeatedly struck by how calm Valdas appears. His wetsuit is helping him stay warm, and friends bring him hot food and drinks every 30 minutes to keep his body temperature up. "You could see the determination in Valdas's eyes," swift water rescuer Adrian 'Ace' Petrie says. "Even though his body was deteriorating, in his mind he was not giving up." But despite his stoicism, there is growing fear that Valdas will not survive. "I began to think, maybe I'm destined to stay here, stuck, forever," Valdas says. The crews stay with Valdas through the long, dark hours of the night. His friends keep the hot drinks coming. But the elements are taking their toll, and hypothermia starts to set in. Valdas receives pain medication as the hours pass. "He was getting colder. He'd lost a fair bit of conversation. His demeanour had totally changed," Ace says. By the early hours of the morning, it is clear only one option remains - and it's the option nobody wants. "It was a big mental hurdle, realising that we were going to cut his leg off," Rohan says. "I'd never had to hurt someone to save their life." Valdas doesn't speak much English, so rescuers call on Arvydas, who is a medical doctor, to deliver the grim news. "Valdas asked, 'So I will become handicapped?' Maybe, Valdas. But if not, you will die here in this hole," Arvydas says. Valdas nods his head, meaning, "Alright, do what you need to do". The amputation will take place at first light. "I prayed to God, that's all I could do. Even as a medical person, I couldn't help," Arvydas says. The only doctor among the rescue crew, Nick Scott, is tasked with amputating Valdas's leg above the knee. No amount of experience could have prepared him for surgery underwater, in the wilderness, with very few resources, on belay. The doctor longs for the support of a colleague, but the towering cliffs of the ravine make communication almost impossible. "I felt isolated," he says. As he makes his way down the wet rocks towards the water's edge, the unthinkable happens. He slips and falls. "I put my hand back and all my weight went through my hand," Nick says. "I immediately knew that I'd broken something." It's his wrist. He lets out "a few expletives", realising the amputation can't go ahead as planned. "Nick was pretty shattered," swift water rescuer Ace says. "When you're in those scenarios, you like to see them through." The ground crews get a message out: another doctor needs to be flown in. The big question is whether Valdas will survive another few hours. "His power and strength were dramatically decreasing," Arvydas says. It's mid-morning when the new doctor, Jorian 'Jo' Kippax, himself an experienced white-water kayaker, is winched into the scene. He feels overwhelmed as he hears the loud roar of the river, and takes in the faces of the people who have worked all night on a precarious rock platform. The doctor also agonises over the decision to amputate, but everyone agrees Valdas is running out of time. "The inevitable consequence of him staying there was death, and that was going to be quite soon," he says. The doctor lowers himself down beside Valdas. Immediately he feels the pull of the water, wanting to suck him under. He wedges himself in an awkward spread-eagled position, and takes a breath. "There was a moment, a real sense of, I really, really don't want to do this." Once he starts, there is no going back. "It was like stepping off a cliff. All of a sudden from that point, you were in freefall and the only endpoint is an amputated leg," paramedic Rohan says. With general anaesthesia not being possible, Valdas is knocked out with ketamine. Jo can't see the leg, so he opts to do the surgery with bare hands, so he can feel what he's doing. The velcro tourniquets don't work under water, but he improvises using ratchet straps. Then he starts the procedure. He cuts away the muscles of the thigh, "leaving the tremendously strong femur". "We are trained to saw through this using a Gigli saw - a fine wire which has got sharp serrations on it," he says. "It's very light, which is why we favour it. But it's also pretty delicate. "And in this case, it broke." Jo's heart drops. Fortunately he manages to break through the rest of the femur. Within seconds Valdas is free. "Suddenly, he came backwards into my arms. I was waiting for a gush of blood, but there wasn't," he says. "The entire procedure, although it felt a long time to me, only took about two minutes." Crews haul Valdas out of the water and up a rock face. As Arvydas watches, he is devastated. "The colour of his skin, and the body ... my diagnosis was Valdas is dead," he says. He returns to his camp and is silent for several minutes. He only tells his friends to pray for Valdas. Everyone is aware that the amputation doesn't guarantee Valdas's survival. After 24 hours in the water, there is an "extremely high chance" of hypothermic cardiac arrest. Initially Valdas responds well, but then he starts to crash. He stops breathing, so the paramedics put him on a ventilator. Then his heart stops beating. "There's a little part of you that thinks that we killed him as his rescuers," Rohan says. Arvydas notices that no one makes eye contact with him. He asks the rescue crew if Valdas is dead. "I couldn't say yes, but I definitely couldn't say no," Rohan says. Valdas is hooked up to a mechanical CPR machine before he is winched up to the chopper. By the time he arrives at hospital in Hobart, the machine has been keeping his heart beating for 90 minutes. "If your heart stops beating on the side of the Franklin River," Rohan says, "Except that Valdas died of a hypothermic cardiac arrest, and it's one of the really unique ways where you actually have a chance." Because hypothermia slows the body's systems down so much, Jo says, humans can survive "quite long periods of not breathing or very little heart activity". A paramedic has called ahead to alert the hospital that Valdas urgently needs to go on a heart-lung bypass machine, called ECMO, if he is to survive. The ECMO machine warms and oxygenates his blood outside his body and then pumps it back in, until they can restart his heart. Valdas stays on the machine in a coma for four days. As he wakes, he hears a hymn playing over and over in his head. "The last hymn you hear before ending up in heaven, or in hell," he says. "After the hymn I open my eyes and see white - a white ceiling above. I was waking up in the ICU ward." While doctors, nurses and paramedics are overjoyed, there is concern he has suffered brain damage from the accident. Jurgita Rakauskaite-Stanwix, a member of the Hobart Lithuanian community, comes in to help with translation. She holds his hand and translates for doctors as they undertake tests to assess his neurological state. On the second day, Valdas surprises everyone when he speaks in English. "He said, 'I'm survivor!'" Jurgita says. "I was in tears. Nurses were in tears. It's just such a beautiful moment. And he is. He is a survivor." Before long, Valdas meets the man who amputated his leg in the wilderness. Jo also works as a trauma specialist, and becomes Valdas's treating doctor. "I felt like I had to apologise. And he too was quite emotional," the doctor says. "We both looked at his leg, and looked at each other, and said, 'I'm sorry, this is the way it is.'" Valdas knows the amputation was the right call. "Otherwise I would still be stuck there to this day. I would have two legs, but I would still be over there," he says. In late January, Valdas returned home to Lithuania's capital Vilnius. His sister Rasa is helping in his recovery. "This accident has given me the understanding that in life, everything is possible. Every challenge can be overcome," she says. When Australian Story visited Valdas in May, he was walking on crutches. Now, he's learning to walk again with a prosthesis. "I survived. I endured. That's the greatest joy," he says. "As for the leg, that's not a problem. "The main thing is being alive and life is a beautiful thing." Arvydas says his friend was a legend with two legs, and is now a "double legend". "It doesn't matter. Broken leg. Cut leg. But alive," he says. A lot went wrong for Valdas, but a lot went his way, too. His thick wetsuit kept him warm. He was wearing a life jacket - without it, Ace believes he "probably would have got sucked under the rock". If it had rained even a few millimetres, the river could have risen and drowned him. The marathon rescue involved two helicopters, 500 kilograms of gear and a record-breaking 57 winches. And communication problems that dogged the rescuers were eased when an AMSA jet was flown overhead later in the rescue to provide critical radio communications. Valdas is grateful for those who saved his life. "The Australian people were fantastic. It brings tears to my eyes when I remember their care," he says. "If it had happened in a place other than Australia, heaven knows what would have happened to me." Valdas now has the "crazy idea" to return to the Franklin River in 2026 and finish the journey that changed his life forever. "Because that incident interrupted our expedition, the Franklin River venture remained unfinished," he says. "I don't know whether anyone has ever gone rafting with a prosthesis." Arvydas would be at his side - and their rafting party may include a new member. Jo has formed a strong bond with Valdas. "Valdas is a tremendously strong, independent, accomplished person," he says. "This idea that Valdas might want to come back and do the Franklin doesn't surprise me one little bit. "And I'd love to do that trip with him." - ABC
