3 men rescued from Snake River canal gate

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - A dramatic river rescue happened near Rigby Wednesday morning. Around 9:20 a.m., three men were fishing in a drift boat along the Snake River when they were caught in the current of the Great Feeder canal.

The boat became stuck in a corner between the gate of the canal, just under the bridge.

One passenger, a young teen was able to climb the cement wall to safety. But the other two passengers remained stuck in the boat.

The Bonneville and Jefferson County Sheriff's Offices made joint rescue attempts. Ultimately, the rescue teams were able to harness each man to a rope and hoist them out of the river.

All three men were uninjured, but rescue crews said if any of them had fallen into the water, they could have been pulled under.

"In the past, we have had people that have expired in the river. So this was extremely dangerous," Jefferson County Fire Chief Carl Anderson said. "The river is running at a pretty good rate right now. And we've seen we've seen some fatalities at this diversion."

The rescued men were too shaken up to talk.

But they shared with Local News 8 it only took a mistake of 10 feet to land them in a dangerous situation.

"There's a lot of great fishing, a lot of great recreation out here. A lot of people utilize it for that. It's beautiful. And you can see why. But it's very important to plan for safety," Bonneville County Sheriff's office Bryan Lovell said. "The things that you can't see submerged just under the surface, those things can get a boat sideways, can tip them over in an instant. And you're in the water and you're in emergency situation where you've got to survive."

Sgt. Lovell adds the canal bridge was only replaced in 2015.

Before the renovations, there would have been no way to rescue the fishermen from above which would have put them in a very different situation.

"The result would be that it would spit them underneath the water up and over the head gate and out the other side," Lovell said. "In the past, there's been some of those incidents where people have drowned and others where people were able to get out to safety. But it's a very dangerous location."

The rescued men and emergency crews both said to be prepared and to respect the river.