Michigan Tubing Trio Survives 3 Days on Bark and Flowers After Rescue
A Michigan rescue team found a missing tubing group after 3 days. They survived on bark and flowers, and were rescued from dense brush.
A dramatic rescue unfolded in west Michigan last week when conservation officers located two women and a 9-year-old boy who had been missing for three days after their river tubing trip went disastrously wrong. The group was found alive, having survived on bark, flowers, and river water.
The trio—Sarah Vida, 28, her son Kayden Kovalcik, 9, and Jazmin Hock, 28—had set off on the Muskegon River near Twin Lake. Their tubes were punctured after hitting log jams, forcing them to abandon the water and trek through dense, unforgiving terrain.
Body camera footage released by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources shows the tense moments of the rescue. Conservation Officer Cameron Wright is heard yelling, “Make some noise!” as the team pushes through shoulder-high switchgrass and stinging nettles. A boy’s scream answers in the distance.
“We’re coming, guys,” Wright says, his breath ragged.
The group was found about 7 miles from their entry point, wearing only swimsuits. Hock’s legs were covered in deep cuts from days of walking through the brush. They had a broken phone and a single water bottle with just a few sips left.
“You’re talking about vegetation that’s higher than your eyes and switchgrass that cuts you when you touch it and stinging nettles that makes your skin set on fire,” said Anna Cullen, a conservation officer who assisted in the rescue.
The search had been extensive. The group was reported missing after one of the women failed to show up for a dentist appointment. Rescuers tracked them by following footprints, broken twigs, and a tube found near the river.
“I was just in disbelief at finding them because we were just running out of ideas and places to search,” Wright said. “It was nothing short of a miracle.”
The women were unable to walk and were placed in Stokes baskets for the hike out. Wright carried the boy on his back. All three were taken to a hospital for dehydration, exhaustion, and numerous cuts and scrapes.
Despite the ordeal, the boy remained remarkably upbeat. “The entire hike out, he’s just telling me about all of the root beer he’s going to drink and the slushies and the pizza and doughnuts he’s going to eat,” Wright said. “You would have no idea that he had just spent 72 hours in the woods from how happy he was.”