3 people rescued from Skykomish after rafts get stuck

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 26, 2017

MONROE — Rescue crews helped three people safely ashore after their rafts caught on a tree along the Skykomish River on Wednesday.

Two men and a woman in their 20s were floating down the river shortly after 5 p.m., said spokeswoman Heather Chadwick with Snohomish County Fire District 7. They used individual blow-up rafts that were tethered together. They were dressed in street clothes. When the rafts got stuck, they fell in.

All of the rafters were wearing life jackets. One was able to swim ashore. The other two were still in the water when rescue crews arrived.

All three were hypothermic, Chadwick said. Their injuries are not life-threatening.

“This time of year, we have a lot of snow melt, so it’s very cold water,” Chadwick said. “It’s not safe to go out in it.”

The accident occurred southwest of Monroe, near where the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers join to become the Snohomish.