A dramatic rescue operation in west Michigan has successfully retrieved a group of three, including a 9-year-old boy, who were stranded for three days after their river tubing trip went awry.

Rescue Efforts

The group, consisting of Sarah Vida, 28, her son Kayden Kovalcik, 9, and Jazmin Hock, 28, had been tubing on the Muskegon River in the small community of Twin Lake when they hit logs and their tubes popped, according to officials.

After being reported missing, rescue teams scoured the river and rugged terrain, eventually tracking the group from a tube next to the river, following footprints, broken twigs, and knocked-over grass.

Conservation officers from Newaygo and Muskegon counties were part of the rescue team, with Cameron Wright, a conservation officer from Newaygo County, stating, ‘I was just in disbelief at finding them because we were just running out of ideas and places to search, and it was nothing short of a miracle that we ended up finding them the way we did.’

The group was found Friday, about 7 miles from where they entered the river, with Hock’s legs almost entirely covered in deep, red cuts from scrapes after walking for days through the brush.

They had been living off bark and flowers, and drinking river water, with the two women unable to walk due to their injuries, and were taken to the hospital for treatment of dehydration, exhaustion, and their wounds.

Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.