Overview
- Crews responded Jan. 18 to a Willamette River diversion area near the University of Oregon after walkers reported a person down a crevice around noon.
- Firefighters found an unresponsive man in his mid-30s pinned between a concrete diversion wall and a large quarry stone about 10–15 feet below.
- Roughly 20 Eugene Springfield Fire personnel used specialty equipment to free the victim and carry him out.
- The man was transported to a Springfield hospital in critical condition with severe hypothermia, with a reported body temperature of about 76 degrees.
- A separate body was recovered from the river the same day, and the Lane County Medical Examiner is investigating with no confirmed link to the rescue.