SULTAN — A man suffered critical injuries when he fell into a waterfall Saturday south of Sultan near Cedar Ponds.
The series of waterfalls had been the scene of two drownings in the past 1½ years.
The initial call Saturday came around 3:50 p.m. At first, a witness reported two people may have fallen into Young’s Creek, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. Instead it turned out to be one man, 26. A friend tried to pull him to safety with a rope, but dropped him, sheriff’s Lt. Monte Beaton said. The man remained face-down in cold, swift water for more than an hour, as a rescue team worked to reach him to pull him ashore.
Deputies suspect alcohol was involved in the incident, Beaton said. The scene was off remote Dagger Lake Road, a few miles south of Sultan.
Eventually, rescuers hoisted the man out of the ravine with ropes and a stretcher.
He arrived at EvergreenHealth Monroe in critical condition, Fire District 7 spokeswoman Heather Chadwick said.
In March, Molly Acey, 28, of Everett, suffered a head injury and drowned at a falls nearby. Her body couldn’t be recovered until the next morning, when a 35-person search and rescue team returned to help with the recovery in rough terrain.
A year earlier, Jazmine Weitlauf, 22, of Monroe, fell into a falls in the same area on April 12, 2018. Her body was recovered in a tangle of logs several days later.
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
Correction: An earlier version misstated when Jazmine Weitlauf’s body was recovered.
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