Raging river rescue
Updated on 02 July 2009
Amazing footage of an elderly woman plucked from dangerous waters by a construction worker dangling from a crane.
The woman and her husband were thrown into the Des Moines river after their boat capsized on Tuesday afternoon.
The man, who was in his 60s drowned, but the woman, kept afloat by her life jacket, was alive but caught in the current of the raging water below a dam.
The Des Moines Fire Rescue team struggled to get to her and she was too weak to grab a line.
So a nearby construction crew suspended colleague Jason Oglesbee from a crane and lowered him down a long cable to the woman.
He was able to grab her before the crane swung them into the rescue boat. She is said to be in stable condition.
Speaking after the dramatic rescue Jason Oglesbee said:
"The boat broke to pieces and they were trying to throw her ropes and life preservers and stuff. And she just kept going under, I mean, it lasted about 30 minutes.
"He (supervisor) chained us off real good, got a good operator in there (the crane) and if he wouldn't have given the ok to do it, I don't think she would have made it.
"She was tired, I think she was in shock. She said she couldn't feel her hands. I just told her 'hang on tight and I won't let go'"
