PROVO, Utah — Around a dozen people who became stranded while tubing the Provo River were rescued by first responders Saturday afternoon.
Around 2:45 p.m., emergency dispatch received a call saying there were several people gathering on a sort of sandbar or "island" on the Provo River, just east of Vivian Park. More people joined, and in all, officials said there were 11-13 people stranded there. The tubers were concerned about the water conditions.
One of those people who was stranded was Stephen Collins.
"We went like on a family/work event," said Collins.
He described to FOX 13 News on Saturday how his group got stuck.
"When we got to that little land piece in the middle, it got so bad that we all had to like get pushed on to that thing and it was awful," said Collins. "I was so shaky and freezing and so was everyone else, and like, had to do a shelter literally out of all of our tubes."
Collins said they tried to cross the river.
"I lost my hat, my glasses," he said. "Once you stepped off that little embankment, sandbar thing, it was like it was more than deep."
The Utah County Sheriff's Office said its team of search-and-rescue volunteers responded, along with local fire crews.
"You're concerned because if somebody is in a situation where they don't feel like they can continue on their floating down the river and they don't feel like they can get off the river on their own, then we want to make sure that we get resources there to be able to get them off safely," said UCSO Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Fire personnel waded out to the stranded tubers and then helped them get to dry land. Photos from the scene show the crew using specialized swiftwater rescue equipment.
"I think the whole operation from the time that the call came in to the time that they were all off the river was about an hour, maybe a little less than an hour," Cannon said.
Officials added that it was likely that the stranded group couldn't tell how deep the water was. The sheriff's office advised members of the public that "if you feel like conditions are beyond your control, call for help."
"It's always better to call and end up having an easy rescue like we did today," Cannon added. "Because we have had circumstances on this very river where people probably should have called and they didn't, and it turned out much worse."
Still, they used this as an opportunity to urge everyone to be prepared and do their homework before going out on the river or other recreational activities.
"Evaluate conditions and consider if maybe you should go bowling or to a movie if severe weather is, or has been, in the forecast," UCSO wrote in a tweet.
Collins is thankful the situation wasn't much worse.
"It felt like an eternity sitting in there in the rain, on a bunch of rocks," he said.
The biggest takeaway from all of this, Collins added, is to keep your life jackets on and always check the weather.
