A Texas man was rescued after falling into the Ohanapecosh River at Mount Rainier National Park near Packwood on Monday, June 9, and transported to Arbor Health Morton Hospital, park officials confirmed.

The victim, who was reportedly on a trip to national parks on the West Coast with a group of friends after graduating from high school, was standing on rocks off the trail near Silver Falls Trail taking photos when he fell at least 100 feet into the river, witnesses told The Chronicle.

Witnesses said that the man, who has not been publicly identified, fell into the cold water but was able to grab onto a twig or a branch to lift himself onto a ledge close to the river. He was unable to move from the rock.

His friends approached witnesses and told them they were unable to contact emergency services due to poor connection at the falls. A witness drove the victim’s friends to the nearby entrance to Stevens Canyon to find a ranger, who told them that the nearest rescue team was on the southeast side of the park but the victim was on the northeast side, witnesses said.

Once the rescue team of National Park Service rangers arrived, they worked on the rescue for about two hours before, lifting the man from the rock using technical rope rescue techniques, according to witnesses. He was transported via ambulance to Arbor Health Morton Hospital. The extent of his injuries is unknown.

Local residents said there has been a history of people fatally falling into the Ohanapecosh River, but they have never heard of someone surviving due to the speed, depth and freezing temperature of the water.

Witnesses described the man’s survival as “nothing short of a miracle.”

Located in the southeast corner of the park, Ohanapecosh, named for a Taidnapam (Upper Cowlitz) Indian habitation site along the river, is thought to mean “standing at the edge.”

The Texas man had a much better outcome than that of another individual who recently fell into a river in a national park in Washington state.

Last week, Olympic National Park teams versed in technical and swiftwater rescue worked to recover an 18-year-old man’s body that was located below Sol Duc Falls on June 9.

Recovery efforts included lowering multiple responders into the narrow canyon. Attempts to recover the submerged body were unsuccessful.

Rangers faced high river flows in the 7 to 8 foot wide canyon due to recent warm temperatures and rapid snowmelt. The park’s priority is to safely complete this recovery as soon as conditions allow. Rangers will continue to monitor the target area, natural hazards, and changing conditions. Recovery operations will resume when it is safe to do so.

He fell June 8 after he was last seen walking across slippery rocks at the top of the 50-foot waterfall, according to park officials.

The park visitor lost his footing and fell to the bottom of the falls, park rangers said.

A body was spotted the next day “completely submerged” and “pinned between the first and second falls,” rangers said.

Rangers said they believe it belongs to the man.

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Information from The Daily World was included in this report.