In a Tuesday Curry County Sheriff’s press release, on Wednesday afternoon, May 22nd, the Curry County Sheriff’s Dispatch received a 911 call reporting that several juveniles were in the water possibly drowning in the Rogue River about six miles east of God Beach near Huntly Park.
Multiple agencies including Curry County Sheriff’s Deputies, Gold Beach Police Officers, Gold Beach Fire, medical personal from Cal-Or ambulance, as well as medical helicopters from Reach were immediately dispatched to the scene within minutes from getting the call, arriving in the area of Huntly Park gravel bar along the Rouge River.
Two teachers and 5 juveniles were among 7 individuals clinging to the rocks on the opposite side of the river from Huntly Park, or still swimming in the river, yelling that they could not hang on to the rocks any longer.
A Deputy and two Officers made the decision to attempt to assist the subjects, attempting to swim across the river. Two of the struggling subjects got caught in the river current and were swept down river, along with one Sheriff’s Deputy, and one Gold Beach Police Officer.
Within minutes of the initial report, the Sheriff’s patrol boat arrived approximately ¾ mile downstream from Huntly Park in front of Tu Tu Tun Lodge, and three subjects were seen in the water.
It was clear that all three were in distress as two females were observed together trying to swim on their backs, and approximately 200 yards above them was a male subject struggling to stay above water and was observed going underwater several times.
A decision was made to pass up the first two subjects and assist the unidentified male subject at that time, as it did not appear as if he would be able to stay above water any longer. The male subject, recognized as a Gold Beach Police Officer, was pulled from under the water and onto the swim platform of the boat as the boat was maneuvered back down river to secure the other two females, taking one teacher and one juvenile to the shore clinging to the side of the boat. Once on shore the two were pulled out onto the riverbank in front of Tu Tu Tun Lodge, and another responding Deputy took over care of these two subjects.
As this was happening a private guided fishing boat, observed the Sheriff’s patrol boat previously go by him, and responded on his own to assist and was able to retrieve the other Gold Beach Police Officer, and Sheriff Deputy from the water. He then pulled three others that were clinging to the rocks into his boat as the last subject was rescued from the rocks by the Sheriff’s patrol boat.
All subjects were then transported by boat to the gravel bar at Huntly Park where medical and fire personnel were waiting as deputies obtained a head count confirming that all juveniles, teachers, and responding officers were accounted for.
One female juvenile was then transported by REACH helicopter to Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass. One Gold Beach Police Officer, the other four juveniles, and two teachers were then transported to Curry General Hospital for treatment.
With the Rogue River still flowing very high and water temperatures from 50 to low the low 60’s, all subjects were treated for different stages of hypothermia. One Gold Beach Police Officer reportedly remains in the hospital being treated for complications related to the incident, as all others were treated and eventually released.
The Juveniles and teachers were on a 7th -8th grade trip from Surprise Valley School in California and were told that Huntly Park was a good place to swim.
The 10 subjects that were in the water during the incident are predicted to make a full recovery.
