Gold Hill, Ore. — A man was rescued from the Rogue River in Valley of the Rogue State Park after his boat capsized.
Park Manager Nathan Seable says it was around 8:15 p.m. when a camper heard yelling and screaming.
When the camper went to investigate, he found an older gentleman whose boat had capsized and he was hanging onto a locust tree to keep from flowing down the river.
That’s when the camper did something heroic.
“The camper went out, took his belt off, wrapped it around the gentleman that was hanging onto the tree in the river to secure him, and also started yelling for help,” Seable said.
According to Seable, there was a second passenger who had also fallen off the boat, but he had made it onto the shore.
Soon after the camper found the man in the water, he also started calling help.
That’s when rangers found them and called 911.
Seable says local law enforcement showed up within 5 minutes and extracted the older gentleman from the water.
A man who claims to be the neighbor of the man in the river says he was quite cold but is now doing fine.
The neighbor says the two men lost control of the boat as they were trying to get it started.
The park manager says their boat is still traveling down the river without a driver.
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