'I held on with everything I had': Rescuer recalls daring operation to save man who fell into raging river

With the turbulent waters of the Little Qualicum River rushing over his head as he struggled to push his way upstream, Nick Rivers lost sight of his search and rescue colleagues standing over him at the top of a canyon.

Rivers and his team were desperately trying to rescue a man who'd fallen into the river on Saturday afternoon. The man was clinging to a log straddled between his legs, a steep waterfall less than five metres away.

Rivers had to rely on hand signals from his colleagues to figure out what to do.

"It was the most technically challenging rescue I've ever done," said Rivers, a swift-water rescue technician and manager with Arrowsmith Search and Rescue. 

The team managed to rescue the man, who is in his 30s but whose name was not made public, from the river in Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park on Vancouver Island after he fell Saturday afternoon. Crews agree it was one of the most high-risk, dangerous operations they've seen in some time.

Going into the water 'always' last resort

Rivers said Arrowsmith crews were called to the river around 3 p.m. PT. When the team arrived and saw the man trapped between two waterfalls, they quickly harnessed Rivers with two ropes, lowered him down the 25-metre cliff and set him into the water just upstream of the man.

"I have to say, I was pretty nervous," said Rivers. "Going into the water is always a last resort." 

Rivers said his initial plan was to let the current take him to the man, but the water was "much too powerful." Rivers missed the man and had to kick off the rocks to push himself back upstream. 

"Unfortunately, that was right when [the man] lost the ability to [hold on]," recalled Rivers.

Rivers then "cornered" the man as the current swept him downstream, catching him "just before he went over the next falls."

"I just held on with pretty well everything I had," Rivers said.

Up on the cliff overhead, Ken Neden, an SAR manager and rope rescue team leader, said watching the scene was "really intense." 

"If he'd gone over [the waterfall], it would have been certain death," Neden said.

Neden explained the most challenging part was losing sight of Rivers from time to time, having to rely on hand signals from the people on the other side of the canyon in order to communicate with Rivers. His radio wouldn't work in the water.

"If we gave Nick too much rope, he'd have gone over the falls," said Neden.

Neden said the man who'd fallen was clearly hypothermic and barely responsive when they pulled the pair up from the river. He was immediately placed on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance. 

Technical rescues becoming more frequent

Rivers said incidents like these have become more common this year. In order to respond properly, rescue crews train about 6,000 hours per year. Even then, he said, nothing can really prepare someone for a rescue as dangerous as this one. 

Neden said this incident was the third technical rescue in the last two months when there is typically one per year. He added the uptick could be due, in part, to more people exploring the outdoors during the pandemic.

He said people often underestimate how powerful river water can be. He cautions people hiking by large bodies of water to watch their step, avoid crossing fences and look for alternate routes around the waterway.