Spring Break
Student missing, presumed drowned
Freshman Alex Thomspon disappeared Saturday while attempting to cross the Crooked River at Smith Rock State Park
From Staff and Wire reports
Issue date: 4/20/09 Section: News
An Oregon State University student is missing and presumed drowned after he vanished while trying to cross the Crooked River at Smith Rock State Park.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office says crews searched late Saturday and all Sunday for 19-year-old Alex Thompson, a freshman in biochemistry and biophysics who is from the Portland suburb of Aloha.
Roughly 30 searchers scoured more than a mile and a half of the river and its banks, but couldn't find Thompson.
The search will resume this morning.
Thompson had been in the area with five friends. The sheriff's office says he was apparently swept off his feet while trying to wade through the cold, fast-moving water.
According to an article from The Oregonian, previous information from authorities said that Thompson vanished while swimming in the river. That information turned out to be incorrect, as Thompson was attempting to cross the river with friends with a backpack on his back. Finding it increasingly difficult to traverse the river with a pack, he returned to shore to drop it off and headed back into the river to attempt to cross it a second time. This time, he lost his footing, slipped and was carried away by the swift current.
Information from the same article said that four Deschutes County Search and Rescue divers had been involved in yesterday's search, and that the Ochoco Irrigation District lowered the water output from the Bowman Dam near Prineville in order to aid the searchers.
Look for more information in the search for Thompson in Tuesday's edition of The Daily Barometer.
news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office says crews searched late Saturday and all Sunday for 19-year-old Alex Thompson, a freshman in biochemistry and biophysics who is from the Portland suburb of Aloha.
Roughly 30 searchers scoured more than a mile and a half of the river and its banks, but couldn't find Thompson.
The search will resume this morning.
Thompson had been in the area with five friends. The sheriff's office says he was apparently swept off his feet while trying to wade through the cold, fast-moving water.
According to an article from The Oregonian, previous information from authorities said that Thompson vanished while swimming in the river. That information turned out to be incorrect, as Thompson was attempting to cross the river with friends with a backpack on his back. Finding it increasingly difficult to traverse the river with a pack, he returned to shore to drop it off and headed back into the river to attempt to cross it a second time. This time, he lost his footing, slipped and was carried away by the swift current.
Information from the same article said that four Deschutes County Search and Rescue divers had been involved in yesterday's search, and that the Ochoco Irrigation District lowered the water output from the Bowman Dam near Prineville in order to aid the searchers.
Look for more information in the search for Thompson in Tuesday's edition of The Daily Barometer.
news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231
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