River tubers’ 4-hour tour turned into 3 days of survival in remote Michigan woods

Two women and a child who were tubing on a river last week ended up lost in remote Michigan woods for three days, only to be found safe by rescuers, authorities said Tuesday.

The three were identified by Michigan State Police as Jazzmin Hock, 28, of Muskegon; her cousin, Sarah Vida, 28, of Muskegon; and Vida’s 9-year-old son, Kayden Kovalcik, 9.

They were released after being treated at medical facilities for scrapes, cuts, dehydration and exhaustion over the weekend, State Police Lt. Pat Agema said by email Tuesday.

Authorities said the tubes they were using deflated when they struck a log jam on the Muskegon River in Western Michigan. The tubes were found on the second of a three-day water, air, land search, state police said in a statement.

The father of one of the women who were reported missing Wednesday told authorities he found his daughter’s vehicle parked at the Maple Island Boat Launch in Grant, Michigan, with a broken window, they said.

Family had been unable to contact the three, the father told authorities, according to state police.

They were rescued Friday amid dense woods and thick ground cover by two state troopers and three Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers. It was captured by bodycam video.

The video shows that as the rescuers heard voices, one said, “Hey. Let’s stop. And yell. Make some noise.”

Another on the rescue team said, “They’re just beyond that tree.”

“Oh my god, really?” another responded.

When they reached the missing tubers, the 9-year-old boy excitedly told them what happened.

“We got lost on the river,” he said. “We went to the river, and we were on the river for four hours.”

State Trooper Zach Murphy embraced Hock and gave her a shirt. The body camera video showed she had cuts the length of her legs.

Conservation Officer Anna Cullen asked one of the survivors when she last had water. “I don’t even know,” the woman responded.

Conservation Officer Cameron Wright said in a statement that the trio was in a bad location, which, according to state police, was less than a mile northeast of the Mill Iron Road river vessel launch area on the Muskegon River in Muskegon, Michigan.

“We knew this specific location is the most remote area that the tubers could have been pulled to, and it would be a bad spot to get lost because it’s the furthest point from any roads or houses,” he said.

The team tracked the lost tubers using ground patterns, Wright said.

“We could see in the middle of the log jam a path in the gr*** – the tubers came down some logs and went through water, then onto the riverbank and into the trees,” he said. “We were able to see where they entered the woods and requested ***istance once we located footprints in the mud.”

The team followed the prints as well as paths indicated by tipped-over ferns, bent gr*** and other dislocated foliage before reaching the trio, he said.

Murphy said in video call that he couldn’t believe his eyes when he came upon the tubers.

“The thought that kept going through my head was, I can’t believe that three people, allegedly in bathing suits, with no shoes on, were making the trek through that swamp,” he said.

He called the rescue a “fourth-quarter, fourth-down, hail-Mary victory.”