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Man separated from party later found in debris in the river 

 

SALUDA – On Saturday, July 9, at 6:41 p.m., Saluda Fire and Rescue was dispatched to a section of the Green River to search for a man who was reported missing earlier in the day.

According to officials at Saluda Fire and Rescue, a man entered the Green River with a group of people around 11 in the morning. At some point, he became separated from the group and they were unable to locate him.

Officials at Polk County Sheriff’s Office were initially alerted of the man’s disappearance. Once Sheriff’s Office deputies determined that the emergency was a searchable-type call, according to officials, Saluda Fire and Rescue was dispatched. Saluda officials began their water search soon after.

Eventually, the man was located a couple of hundred yards below an access point on the river, near Wilderness Cove Campground.

“He was down there for hours,” Nicholas Edwards of Saluda Fire and Rescue says. “As it was getting pitch black dark, we found him on a log. He was basically laying in a pile of debris on the river.”

Edwards says they placed the man in their kayak and quickly got him to safety. He was suffering from hypothermia because he was in the river water for so long. The man was able to walk to the ambulance, and he was transported to Spartanburg Regional for further evaluation.