[UPDATE 10:21 p.m.: Good News!] A Community Worries That a Student Rafting Trip Is in Trouble

Concern is rising after a group of young students and three adults are almost completely out of touch since setting out on a rafting trip into the main stem of the Eel River about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The leader sent one text reporting that there was an injury today, but there has been no further information.

According to residents of the area, there are nine boats and 17 people–three adults and 14 youth (all under 15, according to one local.)

Donna Sullins, who was hired to shuttle a vehicle from the put in area to the confluence of the Eel Rivers at Dyerville, tells us, “The kids [are] all from a private school in Berkeley.” Sullins says she was worried about the situation and tried to talk about the risks to the adults involved. “I just had a bad feeling…One of the moms got in my Jeep. I told her, ‘There ain’t no way in hell I would let my kid on the river [at this time].'”

Sullins was worried that the students weren’t prepared. She said the youth did have lifejackets, but, she told us, “The kids didn’t have no helmets on.”

Almost immediately after putting into the Eel River on Tuesday afternoon, two of the youths in one of the inflatable boats got swept into a shallower area beneath the Alderpoint bridge. One of the local women looking from the bridge told us, “Our river is so swollen and so swift not even a local would get in this river right now…There was a male and a female [student], very petite in size…As soon as they got in the swift part, it basically sucked them downriver to the willows in the center…They clearly didn’t know how to paddle their raft. It turned backwards and the river sucked them into the willows where it’s a little shallow there.”

She said the boat was high centered and she was worried the inflatable craft might pop.

The kids were screaming for help and locals on the bridge tried to yell instructions on how to paddle out. But the roar of the river made hearing difficult. One of the adults on the bridge told us, “They were scared. The girl shouted, ‘Get us help! Get us help!'”

One of the adults with the school group, a young male estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old by people we talked to, had wanted to swim out to rescue the students but locals managed to talk him out of trying.

Sullins, referring to Zack Harrison swimming the Eel River by Alderpoint while fleeing a murder charge, said she told the young man, “I only know one guy, a local, that could swim it like this, and he’s in prison.”

Two residents, learning of the concerning situation, quickly rushed to the scene in a motorboat to rescue the two students while almost all the remaining watercraft and their occupants were carried swiftly out of sight by the rising Eel River. “Everyone else got pulled down river,” the onlooker from the bridge told us. “We never seen them again.”

The motorboat driven by a local man faced some difficulties in the swift water but did navigate to the two youth. “He had a hard time with how swift [the river] was,” one of the onlookers told us, “and he has a really large motor.” Two local men aboard the motorboat pulled the kids onto the larger boat’s deck and got their inflatable loose. Eventually, they brought the youth and their watercraft to land.

The locals took the young adult and the two students down to a place called Hippie Hole. “There was better land there,” the onlooker said. “The more experienced [young adult] put them in with him and took them downriver. The young girl was really shaken.”

Several members of the community have been very concerned–especially as rain poured down Wednesday.

Diana Totten, a well-known firefighter and rescue person in Southern Humboldt, is staying abreast of the situation though no one really knows where the group is on the Eel. She told us, “The river has come up quite a bit [since the group launched]. The gravel bars are completely covered. The river is bank to bank…The water is muddy and swift. It is dangerous.”

The river has risen six feet since the group’s launch, according to USGS water data.

This afternoon, Donna Sullins told us she received a text from the group leader. The woman asked Sullins to meet her this evening at the confluence of the two Eel Rivers where they had originally agreed that Sullins would leave her vehicle this coming Sunday. “She said there is [an] injury,” Sullins reported. “I texted her back and asked if she needed a ambulance but no response.”

Sullins is currently at the confluence of the Eels McCann hoping that the student group arrives soon.

UPDATE 9:15 p.m.: Supervisor Michelle Bushnell who has spoken to Humboldt County Sheriff Bill Honsal tells us that the school group has not yet been located but that Humboldt County Search and Rescue is on the way to the area as are two US Coast Guard helicopters who will fly the river as long as the weather allows the flight crews access.

UPDATE 9:55 p.m.: According to Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, the school group has been contacted and “they don’t need assistance.” She tells us, “The hurt person was picked up and shuttled out by a third party.”

She added, “They will be out of the river in the early morning.”

A whole county is going to sleep easier tonight.

UPDATE 10:21 p.m.: According to a comment from Humboldt Bay Coast Guard, “For those following: while the USCG aircrew was preparing to launch earlier this evening, we received an update from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office that the group sent a message indicating they were not in any distress. HCSO was no longer requesting Coast Guard assets and will continue to monitor the situation. Thanks again to HCSO for their coordination!”

UPDATE: The Kids Are Safe!: Students Floating the Swollen Eel River Have Made It Safe to McCann