'Miracle' rescue: Cannon Beach firefighters save missing teen boogie boarder

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A rescue swimmer on a surfboard paddled out into 12-foot waves at night to rescue a 19-year-old boogie boarder who went missing at Cannon Beach on Monday.

The Cannon Beach Fire District responded to the beach after a distressed family called 911. The family had entered the ocean with boogie boards just before sunset, they said, and one of their relatives was missing when they returned to shore.

“[The] Rescue Swimmer entered the ocean and paddled … into the 8 to 12-foot waves in the pitch black of night to locate the victim,” the Cannon Beach Fire District said. “After five to 10 minutes of paddling through the large surf, the rescue swimmer heard a faint yell for help, with no visibility the rescue swimmer turned and proceeded in the direction that he estimated the yelling was coming from.”

Paddling into the dark, fighting through large waves, the rescue swimmer spotted a figure silhouetted in the flashing lights of fire engines and police cars. Swimming toward the figure, the firefighter found the missing teenager clinging to his board 50 to 75 yards offshore.

The firefighter placed the young man on his rescue board and paddled back to the beach at 6:03 p.m., where paramedics were waiting to give him medical care. The 19-year-old was released from the scene without serious injury.

Cannon Beach Fire Ocean Safety Division Head Koa Lyu said that the waning king tides made the rescue all the more dangerous.

“I cannot express how lucky this guy was to be found,” Lyu said. “With the large surf and king tides, it was a miracle. The water was really cold. He wouldn’t have lasted much longer before hypothermia would have set in.”

The Cannon Beach Police Department, Medix Ambulance Service and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria also responded to the scene.