From the Yakima Herald-Republic Online News.


Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2008

Boy Scouts rescued off river

Yakima Herald-Republic

 

ELLENSBURG -- The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office swift water rescue team came to the aid of a Boy Scout troop stranded on the Yakima River on Thursday afternoon.

Undersheriff Clayton Myers said members of the troop, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were from Puyallup and Spanaway.

The scouts were scattered over a half-mile area -- on the shore, in logjams and on an island, Myers said.

One boy suffered an ankle injury, while several others had mild hypothermia. The scouts lost some rafts and gear.

Myers said the Pioneer Valley Adventure Club was on a four-day trip building homemade rafts to float the Yakima River from Lake Easton to Roza Dam, camping as they went. He said the group got stuck in logjams below Cle Elum, capsizing several of the rafts.

The teens were taken to Walter Strom Middle School in Cle Elum to take showers and spend the night.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct erroneous information that appeared in the originally published version.