Hiker swept away in San Gabriel River
Here's a post script to the story for anyone interested:
(this is a Google translation of a Vietnamese language article)
http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... 77&act=url
Any my own summary if the translation is too hard to understand:
The incident happened at 1:30 on Friday. Joe and his friend Brian were headed to the Bridge to Nowhere. It's unclear which crossing this happened at it, but there was a rope left there by someone. Maybe it was the first river crossing. Anyhow, usually there are no ropes across the river so it could have been left by another party or by the bungee jumping company.
The river was high, fast and cold that week. Apparently there were several incidents recently. A sheriff's deputy said another man fell into the river at the same spot earlier last week, but someone was able to pull him out downstream. Reportedly other people were able to cross the river successfully that day (perhaps just barely). Also, people were there prospecting and several of them witnessed Joe getting swept away and tried to save him.
Brian and the police broke the bad news to Joe's family at 8pm on Friday. Joe's sister Victoria wanted to go out and look for him but the police said it was dark and too dangerous. SAR would resume the search the next day with aircraft. Victoria gathered her own search party via Facebook and the Vietnamese Student Association. By Saturday they had 30 volunteers ready to go. They only saw aircraft operate for about an hour and did not see very many searchers.
On the news, the authorities said they thought about sending divers into the eddies, but it was too dangerous so they wanted to wait a few days for the water to subside. I think the authorities already concluded there was no hope for Joe and it was now a recovery operation.
But the family was determined to find him, even if only to find his remains. I don't blame them and would have done the same thing. They found help from an unlikely source: Mr. Navarette Santos, 42, a painter born in Nayarit, Mexico. Santos and his wife Leticia are from Pasadena and go to the mountains often. They were there in the East Fork on Saturday and heard about Joe being swept away. That night they couldn't stop talking about of Joe, someone they didn't even know. Mr. Santos said he had a dream that night that his hands felt something soft under the water where people were searching for Joe. The next day at noon Sunday he decided to go out and help search for Joe. He arrived with a helmet and ropes and saw police only looking from the shore. No one was wading in the river.
Meanwhile, Victoria gathered another search party for Sunday and this time there were 50 people. They were prepared with radios, water and bright safety vests. At 12:34p Sunday, a volunteer found Joe's backpack tangled in a tree branch in the river. The family notified the police of their finding and tried to get them to come down to where it was to search the area but the police asked them to bring it up to them.
Mr. Santos was still searching for Joe but he's very dedicated and is actually in the river, feeling under the water with his hands. He's helped by a family friend, David Gunshore. Santos use to fish for clams and oysters while living in Nayarit so he has experience being in the water and knows where to look for something that might get caught up in the river.
At around 3:20pm, in an area next to some fallen trees, he feels something long and soft under the water. He asks David what was Joe wearing. David said dark blue shirt and camo pants. Santos pulls a cloth up from the water and it's a dark blue shirt. It's Joe. The body is too heavy to move so they notify the authorities. Joe's body was found in the Coyote Flats area, which is below the parking lot to Heaton Flats.
There was understandable disappointment by the family and volunteers that the authorities were not doing enough. But SAR understandably don't want to risk additional lives, especially for a recovery operation. It's a tough and sad situation all around.
(this is a Google translation of a Vietnamese language article)
http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... 77&act=url
Any my own summary if the translation is too hard to understand:
The incident happened at 1:30 on Friday. Joe and his friend Brian were headed to the Bridge to Nowhere. It's unclear which crossing this happened at it, but there was a rope left there by someone. Maybe it was the first river crossing. Anyhow, usually there are no ropes across the river so it could have been left by another party or by the bungee jumping company.
The river was high, fast and cold that week. Apparently there were several incidents recently. A sheriff's deputy said another man fell into the river at the same spot earlier last week, but someone was able to pull him out downstream. Reportedly other people were able to cross the river successfully that day (perhaps just barely). Also, people were there prospecting and several of them witnessed Joe getting swept away and tried to save him.
Brian and the police broke the bad news to Joe's family at 8pm on Friday. Joe's sister Victoria wanted to go out and look for him but the police said it was dark and too dangerous. SAR would resume the search the next day with aircraft. Victoria gathered her own search party via Facebook and the Vietnamese Student Association. By Saturday they had 30 volunteers ready to go. They only saw aircraft operate for about an hour and did not see very many searchers.
On the news, the authorities said they thought about sending divers into the eddies, but it was too dangerous so they wanted to wait a few days for the water to subside. I think the authorities already concluded there was no hope for Joe and it was now a recovery operation.
But the family was determined to find him, even if only to find his remains. I don't blame them and would have done the same thing. They found help from an unlikely source: Mr. Navarette Santos, 42, a painter born in Nayarit, Mexico. Santos and his wife Leticia are from Pasadena and go to the mountains often. They were there in the East Fork on Saturday and heard about Joe being swept away. That night they couldn't stop talking about of Joe, someone they didn't even know. Mr. Santos said he had a dream that night that his hands felt something soft under the water where people were searching for Joe. The next day at noon Sunday he decided to go out and help search for Joe. He arrived with a helmet and ropes and saw police only looking from the shore. No one was wading in the river.
Meanwhile, Victoria gathered another search party for Sunday and this time there were 50 people. They were prepared with radios, water and bright safety vests. At 12:34p Sunday, a volunteer found Joe's backpack tangled in a tree branch in the river. The family notified the police of their finding and tried to get them to come down to where it was to search the area but the police asked them to bring it up to them.
Mr. Santos was still searching for Joe but he's very dedicated and is actually in the river, feeling under the water with his hands. He's helped by a family friend, David Gunshore. Santos use to fish for clams and oysters while living in Nayarit so he has experience being in the water and knows where to look for something that might get caught up in the river.
At around 3:20pm, in an area next to some fallen trees, he feels something long and soft under the water. He asks David what was Joe wearing. David said dark blue shirt and camo pants. Santos pulls a cloth up from the water and it's a dark blue shirt. It's Joe. The body is too heavy to move so they notify the authorities. Joe's body was found in the Coyote Flats area, which is below the parking lot to Heaton Flats.
There was understandable disappointment by the family and volunteers that the authorities were not doing enough. But SAR understandably don't want to risk additional lives, especially for a recovery operation. It's a tough and sad situation all around.
Yeah Jim, river crossings can be risky. Sometimes we forget that here because we hardly come across any rivers, but in other places it can be a big issue. A lot of people drown in the Merced river in Yosemite.
Btw, correction to my summary: it was the volunteers who pulled Joe out of the water and onto shore. Here is the actual video. You need a Facebook account to view it and it might be disturbing for some. The volunteer in the red helmet is Santos and I think the other volunteer is Gunshore. You have to hand it to them for their efforts.
Btw, correction to my summary: it was the volunteers who pulled Joe out of the water and onto shore. Here is the actual video. You need a Facebook account to view it and it might be disturbing for some. The volunteer in the red helmet is Santos and I think the other volunteer is Gunshore. You have to hand it to them for their efforts.
Wow. Yeah, not a fun video. In a way, it's a blessing that it's shot from a distance and isn't particularly clear.Tim wrote: ↑Yeah Jim, river crossings can be risky. Sometimes we forget that here because we hardly come across any rivers, but in other places it can be a big issue. A lot of people drown in the Merced river in Yosemite.
Btw, correction to my summary: it was the volunteers who pulled Joe out of the water and onto shore. Here is the actual video. You need a Facebook account to view it and it might be disturbing for some. The volunteer in the red helmet is Santos and I think the other volunteer is Gunshore. You have to hand it to them for their efforts.
One thing is very clear from the video: there's a whole lot of water in that river right now. A whole lot.
HJ
That river gets pretty swolen this time of year. I wouldn't dream of crossing it. My G/f and I attempted a bridge hike this time last year and turned around because of the conditions, we had to wait until August with like over a month of no rain before we felt safe to try it.
My Condolences to the family.
My Condolences to the family.
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VermillionPearlGirl
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:57 am
A lot of this is mentioned in the translated article above, but the family is very unhappy with the Sheriff's response in this case:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... ment-.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... ment-.html