Updated
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Responders are attempting to recover the body of a 5-year-old Tacoma boy who fell into the Cispus River near Randle yesterday as he was riding his motorcycle at an unimproved campground.
His 32-year-old father jumped in after the child but was unable to reach him before the boy was swept away, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The father was able to reach the shore after being carried downstream about a half mile, the sheriff’s office stated in a news release this morning.
Teams working last night believed they spotted little one’s helmet snagged on a log approximately one mile down river from from where he went in, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. The recovery operation resumed at daylight this morning, according to Brown.
Deputies, firefighters and swift water team members out of Toledo responded about 7 p.m. last night to reports of possible drownings.
The site is beyond the Cispus Learning Center is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which is about seven miles south of Randle.
Due to darkness and the extremely swift water, teams had to discontinue the search last night, according to Brown.
The boy was camping with his family over the weekend about 10 and a half miles south of Randle, along Forest Service Road 120, off Forest Service Road 23.
Brown said he was wearing full protective riding gear and a helmet, and it appeared he got to close to the river bank and went in.
The river is running very fast at this time of year due to snow melt, Brown indicated, and the water temperatures are extremely cold.
On the scene this morning are deputies, members of Lewis County Fire Districts 14 Randle and 2 Toledo, water rescue specialists from Lewis and Thurston counties, Packwood Search and Rescue and a Fish and Wildlife agent, according to Brown.