A man and a woman were reported to have gone missing after setting off to attempt floating the section of the river below the bridge on an inflatable air mattress.
Members of Taos SAR’s ground, base, drone and swiftwater units responded, along with members of the New Mexico State Police, Los Alamos Auxiliary Fire Brigade and Rio Arriba County Fire & Emergency Services Swiftwater Rescue Team.
Incident Base was initially setup at the John Dunn Bridge, and John Nettles of Swiftwater Unit set off from the bridge in the morning. Taos SAR Ground Unit members were also deployed on teams searching the river banks on foot while drone unit members searched the area from above.
After reports of shouting were heard below the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, Incident Command Post was moved to the visitor’s center at the bridge, while assets were also moved to the rim of the Gorge above Manby Hot Springs, providing easier access to the river nearer that subjects’ location and also a communications relay between IC and teams operating in the gorge.
Eventually, the male subject hiked out on his own, made it the rim and informed IC of his friend’s whereabouts. Shortly thereafter, ground teams made contact with the female subject still in the Gorge and assisted her to hike out to the east rim where an ambulance and emergency services were waiting to assist her.
For more on this mission, see this report from the Los Alamos Auxiliary Fire Brigade.