A family camping trip along Montana's Yellowstone River turned into a life-saving rescue by a 14-year-old boy. The teenager usedthe roping skills he had learnt on a ranch to pull a struggling man out of the fast-moving water.
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Jory Thomas was camping with his family near Greycliff on July 5 when they suddenly heard someone shouting for help from across the river. Within moments, the teenager realised that a group of people had been thrown into the river and one man was being carried away by the strong current.
Jory did not wait for the emergency crews and acted immediately. Carrying a 12-foot lariat that he had brought with him that day, he ran along the riverbank, caught up with the drifting man and successfully roped him on his first attempt. He then slowly pulled the man towards the shore until first responders arrived.
Holiday takes unexpected turn
Jory recalled the moment everything changed. "We all heard, 'Help, help,'" he said, as quoted by KTVQ. "There's two or three people floating down the river, one hanging on to the cooler, and he wasn't saying anything," he added.
According to the family, a floating raft and a paddleboard had struck one of the bridge pillars on the Yellowstone River. The collision threw four people into the water.
Three of them managed to reach the shore safely. However, one man remained in the river. He continued drifting downstream while holding on to a cooler as the current carried him away.
Jory said he knew the river was moving quickly. "This current was pretty fast then, and he was moving pretty quickly," he said. "Only thing I could focus on was helping him get out of the water because I didn't want to see anyone go in front of me.”
Without wasting time, the teenager emptied his pockets, crossed a waist-deep side channel and sprinted along the riverbank to get closer to the struggling man.
Rodeo became life-saving
The rescue depended on a skill Jory had only started learning seriously this year. Growing up on a ranch, he had begun attending cattle brandings and practising with a lariat. Over the past several months, he had spent many evenings improving his roping technique.
“I actually started really getting into roping this year. I went to brandings and started roping cattle then, and I started getting better. Every afternoon when it cools off, I go out and rope the roping dummy," he said.
Jory's decision to bring the lariat on the camping trip turned out to be crucial. His grandmother, Sandy Thomas, said she found it unusual because he had never packed it for earlier trips to the same campground.
“We come down to this campground a couple times during the summer. Jory comes over quite frequently and has never, ever brought his lariat with him before. And that day he did,” she said.
As the man continued drifting downstream, Jory relied on the same technique he had practised while working with cattle. “First instinct I thought was try and rope him and drag him out before he gets too far down the river,” he said. “Luckily, I caught him first try.”
The throw worked. Jory managed to loop the rope around the man and carefully pulled him through chest-deep water towards the riverbank while others prepared to assist.
Emergency responders arrived soon afterwards, by which time the man had already been brought closer to safety.
