A 14-year-old boy who was saved by other swimmers Friday in an exhausting rescue in fast, icy waters below Dougan Falls is recovering at a Portland hospital.
Kea Rodrigues of Wilsonville, Ore., was in critical condition Saturday at Southwest Washington Medical Center after being flown by Life Flight helicopter from the falls on the upper Washougal River in Skamania County.
He was later transferred to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital in Portland and his condition has improved to serious condition, a hospital employee said Monday night.
Several witnesses have described a dramatic rescue effort after Kea’s leg was caught between boulders below a small waterfall and he yelled for help.
An estimated 20 or more swimmers stood in the strong current upstream from Kea, trying to divert the water away from him, witnesses said.
And several people jumped into the chest-deep pool and worked for 30 minutes or more to hold on to Kea and keep his head above the rushing water.
Izaak Henthorn, 30, of Fisher’s Landing said he and two friends arrived shortly after noon and saw a sheriff’s deputy and another man there and about 40 people standing above the fall.
Henthorn said his friend Jason Morgan, also 30 and a Battle Ground resident, jumped into the pool, held on to Kea and, standing in front of the waterfall, used his body to divert water from the boy’s face.
Seeing a woman in the water fighting to hold the boy’s head out of the water, Henthorn said he jumped in too.
“I went in to help her basically,” he said. “She was begging for help.”
Henthorn and the woman, who has not been identified, worked about a half-hour to support the boy and keep themselves from being swept away.
“That’s the bravest, most courageous and strongest woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” Henthorn said. “She would have died right there with him. I guarantee she was not going to let go of him.” Henthorn and other witnesses have said that the only public official who entered the water to help keep the boy’s head above water was a scuba diver.
The rescuers tried to give Kea air from the diver’s tank but the boy couldn’t breathe from the mouthpiece.
The diver managed to tie a rope around the boy’s chest and officials and swimmers pulled him loose. Kea was blue and unresponsive when pulled from the water. Paramedics began intense CPR to save his life before putting him on the helicopter.
Units from the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office, Fire District 4, Skamania County Emergency Medical Services, Vancouver Fire Department, Clark County Fire District 6 and East County Fire and Rescue responded to the scene. Efforts to get comment from the sheriff’s office have failed.
Kea’s sister, Lahaina Rodrigues, placed a message about Kea’s fight online at http://keaupdates.webs.com.
