Horrific triple tragedy after three hikers jumped into stunning California waterfall
Bodies have been recovered after three men jumped into a California waterfall and never resurfaced.
On June 18, six outdoorsmen set out on a hike several miles into the woods near Soda Springs. They embarked on what officials have said was an 'extremely remote and difficult to access' trail.
During the journey, three of the hikers plunged into Rattlesnake Falls and did not resurface, completely vanishing beneath the freezing water. Shortly before 3 pm, the remaining hikers contacted local authorities for help.
After four days of searching, with major setbacks thanks to weather and wind conditions, the missing bodies were recovered and the Placer County Sheriff's Office confirmed their deaths.
'It is with heavy hearts that we share the bodies of the three men have been recovered,' they said in their statement.
'Our heartfelt condolences go out to their families, friends, and all those affected by this tragic loss.'
The rescue required California Highway Patrol Helicopters to help evacuate the remaining three men from the rough terrain. The location of which 'made rescue efforts especially challenging,' according to the Place County Sheriff's Office.
The remote area required a three hour hike to reach. Authorities sent the Sheriff's Office's dive team, Search and Rescue Units, CAL Fire's technical rescue team and California Highway Patrol's helicopter.
A helicopter ushered the three survivors back to safety on Wednesday evening, but the vanished hikers were left unfound for days after.
To make matters worse, search efforts were tampered by gusty winds and low visibility, drawing out the process even further.
According to the Sheriff's Office, searching operations were suspended Thursday 'due to poor underwater visibility caused by debris and strong currents.'
They said: 'Additionally, increasing winds this afternoon have made flying conditions unsafe. Dive team members have been flown back to the command post to conclude efforts for the evening.'
Then, on Friday, visibility continued to be poor. The Sheriff's Office wrote: 'The search efforts will continue in a limited but ongoing capacity. Over the next few days, and as wind conditions allow, aerial surveys of the location and overall area will be conducted.
'Once conditions improve, anticipated by Sunday, a coordinated plan is in place to return to the site with enhanced equipment and support from mutual aid partners to further the search efforts.'
By Sunday, conditions finally cleared and the team was able to locate the bodies. By then they were lifeless in the frigid water.
Placer County has advised against plunging into local ponds, lakes, and waterfalls for fear of incidents like this one.
According to their website, melting snow in northern California can leave water temperatures 'dangerously cold' even as the seasons change.
Placer County has warned individuals wishing to enjoy waterways to take extra precaution, regardless of the season.
Jumping into frigid waters could cause cold shock which results in 'a rapid loss of breathing control, increased heart rate and a gasp reflex.' Or hypothermia, a 'dangerous drop in body temperature that can lead to unconsciousness and even death.'
Both of these side effects make it more difficult to swim or breathe, leading to drowning in low-temperature waterways like Rattlesnake Falls.
The Placer County Sheriff's department has yet to release the names of the individuals or any further details on the incident.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
California dog trainer charged with animal cruelty, evidence destruction in deaths of 11 dogs
Eleven dogs died while in the care of a California dog trainer and prosecutors say he and his girlfriend tried to destroy the evidence by dropping off the dogs' bodies at different crematoriums. Kwong (Tony) Chun Sit, of Irvine, pleaded not guilty Monday in Orange County Superior Court to 11 counts of animal cruelty, 11 counts of animal abuse by a caretaker, seven counts of attempting to destroy evidence and one count of destruction of evidence, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Tingfeng Liu, of Vista, who is dating Sit, pleaded not guilty Monday to accessory to a felony and destruction of evidence, police said. Sit, 53, and Liu, 23, are both are in custody on $550,000 bail each. Prosecutors said the couple was packed and ready to flee when they were arrested on Thursday. Each has been assigned a public defender, prosecutors said. A pet owner contacted police last week saying their dog trainer told them their dog had died and had been cremated, police spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp said. Investigators since have determined that 11 dogs died and that nine of them died on or around Wednesday, police said. Aimee Gutierrez said in a social media post that her family several weeks earlier had adopted a 9-month-old Belgian Malinois and named her Saint. She said the person they trusted to help train Saint informed her by text that Saint had died in her sleep. 'We were not given details,' Gutierrez said. We were not given the change to say goodbye. We later learned that she had been cremated without our consent or knowledge." Another dog was also cremated, police said. The Irvine Police Department's Animal Services Unit recovered the bodies of multiple dogs that prosecutors say had been dropped off by either Sit or Liu at crematoriums. Necropsies performed on three of the dogs show two of the dogs died from heat stroke and the third dog died from blunt force trauma, prosecutors said. Necropsies are pending on the remaining six animals. All but one of the dogs was dropped off at crematoriums last Wednesday. The body of the first dog was dropped off on June 13. Sit worked throughout Southern California under different company names, including Happy K9 Academy, police said. A website with that company name lists Tony Sit as the author of its blog posts. It says their services include boarding and training but doesn't give a boarding facility address or other specific information. An address listed on the website is that of a public park in Tustin, California. The police investigation is ongoing, Oldoerp said.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump ramps up deportation arrests
Immigration arrests seen on video are showing an emerging trend: More Border Patrol agents are doing their jobs far from the borders with Mexico or Canada. A Border Patrol agent was seen hitting a Southern California landscaper on the head and neck as he was pinned to the ground during an arrest Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security said the man swung his weed trimmer at agents. The man's son, Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran, said his father was scared but did not attack anyone. With border arrests at the lowest levels in about 60 years, the roughly 20,000 Border Patrol agents are showing up elsewhere. Here are things to know about the trend: Why is the Border Patrol working away from the border? President Donald Trump's House-approved 'big, beautiful bill' proposes $8 billion to increase U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff by 10,000 people. Until then, the agency primarily responsible for interior enforcement is relying on other federal agencies as it struggles to meet a daily arrest target of at least 3,000 set by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of immigration policy. ICE, with only about 6,000 deportation officers, has found a ready partner in the Border Patrol, which is also part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It comes at a time when border arrests plunged to an average of 282 a day in May after peaking at more than 8,000 a day in December 2023. Agents in the Border Patrol's Yuma, Arizona, sector assisted ICE officers last week in Philadelphia, Justin De La Torre, the sector chief, said in a social media post. His sector averaged only four arrests a day on the Arizona border last month after peaking at more than 1,100 a day in May 2023. Greg Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol's El Centro, California, sector, appeared alongside U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a news conference this month in Los Angeles during which U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcefully removed, pushed to the ground and handcuffed. 'We're here and not going away,' Bovino said, introducing himself to reporters as his agency's top representative during ICE-led operations in Los Angeles. Few see any reason to doubt the Border Patrol will remain. 'So long as the border remains relatively quiet, we will continue to see the Border Patrol deployed to act almost as if they are ICE agents,' said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group. What is the 100-mile border zone? Agents are granted by federal law the ability to stop and question people within 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border, including the coasts. They have heightened authority to board and search buses, trains and vessels without a warrant within the zone. That encompasses vast swaths of the country that include about two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Los Angeles is well within 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Beyond that zone, agents are still authorized to work within the United States. "The Border Patrol can still operate fully in the interior. It's just that they have less authority to stop and question people,' said Reichlin-Melnick. What can the Border Patrol do beyond the 100 miles? Past the 100-mile enforcement zone, Border Patrol agents, like officers working for ICE or the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, are classified as immigration officers who are authorized to carry out arrests and detain people on suspicion of violating immigration law. There are some limits. 'They could only search somebody's car on probable cause that the person has violated the law," Reichlin-Melnick said. 'And so people have somewhat heightened rights against search and seizure outside of the 100-mile zone than they do inside of the 100-mile zone. But each individual case will vary depending on the specific circumstances."
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Marine veteran says Border Patrol agents beat his dad, while agency says he swung trimmer at them
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran said he was shocked to see a video on social media of his father, a landscaper in Southern California, being beaten by masked U.S. Border Patrol officers as he was pinned to the ground during an immigration arrest. The Saturday arrest of Narciso Barranco, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1990s but does not have legal status, is the latest to capture widespread attention as the crackdown on immigration by President Donald Trump 's administration draws scrutiny and protests. Witnesses uploaded videos of the arrest in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County between San Diego and Los Angeles. No footage showed the entire incident from start to finish as agents struggled with Barranco outside an IHOP restaurant. Narciso Barranco was taken to a federal immigration detention center in downtown Los Angeles where he is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Marine veteran Alejandro Barranco, said his father called him Sunday and told him that he was in a lot of pain. 'He just started crying,' Barranco said of his 48-year-old father. The Department of Homeland Security said Barranco refused to comply with commands and swung his weed trimmer at an agent. The agents 'took appropriate action and followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve the situation in a manner that prioritizes the safety of the public and our officers,' the email statement added. Alejandro Barranco said his father had no criminal record and is kind and hardworking. He said the agents' use of force was unnecessary and differed greatly from his military training for crowds and riot control. He aided the U.S. military's evacuation of personnel and Afghan allies from Afghanistan in 2021. 'It's uncalled for, not appropriate or professional in the way they handled that situation,' Barranco said. 'It looks like he's putting up resistance on the ground but that's a natural human reaction and I think anybody would do that to defend themselves when they are being beaten on the ground by four men.' The federal government said they've seen an uptick in people interfering with arrests that has put its agents at risk. Trump has deployed the California National Guard and Marines to guard federal buildings in Southern California and protect federal law enforcement officers. DHS shared a video in which Barranco is seen running with the trimmer in the air as agents try to corral him. At one point, an agent sprays him with pepper spray, and Barranco moves the trimmer between him and the agent but it does not touch him. Behind him, another officer has his gun drawn as he crosses a busy intersection. In other video footage, Barranco is seen running through the intersection still holding his long trimmer upright as a truck moves to block his path. He's then seen darting to another lane and tries to open a car door before agents tackle him. As he screams and yells, cars honk and one motorist shouts: 'Leave him alone, bro.' An agent tells Barranco to give him his hand as he lies prone. Video footage from another angle shows an officer hitting Barranco repeatedly on the head and neck as he screams and moans and moves around. Another motorist is heard yelling in Spanish 'why are you hitting him?' The department said in an email to The Associated Press that Barranco 'swung a weed whacker directly at an agent's face. He then fled through a busy intersection and raised the weed whacker again at the agent.' It added that Barranco was offered medical care but declined. All three of Barranco's sons were born in the United States and eventually joined the U.S. military. Alejandro left the Marine Corps in 2023. His two brothers are currently active-duty Marines. 'We joined the Marine Corps because we love our country and want to give back,' he said. 'Our parents taught us to be appreciative, be thankful of our country, about being patriots.' His father was worried about immigration officials arresting him and the family had looked into his options but Alejandro said his dad never found the time to tend to the matter as he focused on his landscaping business. In fact, the first thing he said to his son when they spoke after the arrest was to check on his landscaping client to make sure no mess had been left when he dropped everything and fled from agents, Alejandro said.
