Woman killed after falling into Stanislaus River in Knights Ferry

A woman in her 20s died after falling off an inner tube into the Stanislaus River in Knights Ferry Wednesday afternoon.

The woman was among a group of about a half dozen people who entered the river in inner tubes that were tied together, said Battalion Chief Kevin Wise of the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District. He said the group were employees from Black Oak Casino, east of Sonora.

About three quarters of a mile from where they launched near the covered bridge, the rope got caught on a tree; two of the inner tubes swung around either side of the tree and hit each other. The impact caused the occupants in the inner tube to fall off.

The woman then got caught up in the ropes and the current pushed her under, said Capt. Paul Autry. Her friends eventually were able to get her to the shore, where they started CPR.

Around that time, Stanislaus Consolidated launched two boats in the river and a medical helicopter arrived on scene and spotted the group. Wise said the helicopter landed on a hill above the shore and the flight nurse hiked down to the group as firefighters were arriving in a boat.

They got the woman in the boat and continued CPR as they made their way to the Knights Ferry Recreation Area parking lot. CPR was continued as she was taken by ambulance to Oak Valley Hospital in Oakdale, where she was pronounced dead.

Autry said everyone in the group was wearing life jackets and when firefighters got to the woman she had one around her arm; it was likely removed by friends preforming CPR. Still, he said, even with a life jacket, the force of the current, at 2,000 cubic feet per second, is great enough to hold a person under.

Wise said he recommends people stay out of the rivers altogether. “If you are going to go, go with a professional company and a guide,” he said.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline " Woman killed after falling into Stanislaus River in Knights Ferry."