Teton County Search and Rescue rescues 5 stranded rafters
JACKSON (WNE) — Teton County Search and Rescue plucked a family of five off the Snake River on Wednesday evening after a woman was separated from her family.
The group included an adult man, an adult woman and three children, including an infant, a young child and a teenager, said Anthony Stevens, Teton County Search and Rescue’s chief adviser. The adult woman was separated from the group and did not have a lifejacket.
While the woman and her family got off the river uninjured, the incident is an important safety reminder for boaters who are planning to get out on the river ahead of the Fourth of July, officials said.
“Be prepared,” Stevens said. “Take the things that you need, have a way to communicate, wear lifejackets — that’s the most important thing.”
Search and Rescue was, conveniently, training with a jet boat at the Wilson boat ramp and left from the ramp to look for the woman. Rescuers found the man and three children three miles downriver. They were stranded on an island in the middle of the river, after they lost an oar.
The stranded boaters were not in need of immediate assistance and rescuers continued downriver to find the missing woman. They found the woman on an island three more miles downstream. She was cold and tired but uninjured, according to a Search and Rescue statement.
Rescuers placed the woman in a jet boat, which had a mechanical problem and was not able to reach the other stranded boaters. Rescuers then drove a truck down the Snake River levee and found the man and three children. They used an inflatable raft to shuttle them to shore before regrouping at Search and Rescue headquarters in town.
This story was published on June 27, 2026.
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