One Man Dies, Drowning Woman Pulled From River by Crane

Description:
Crane operator Joe Lowe and general laborer Jason Oglesbee saved a woman from drowning in the Des Moines River on June 30 after current pulled a boat over a low-head dam. A crew from Cramer & Associates Inc., Grimes, Iowa, constructing a steel-arch pedestrian bridge just upstream of the dam, leapt into action when rescuers couldn’t reach Patricia Ralph-Neely, 67, who was trapped in the swirling boil for about 25 minutes. Her husband, Alan, 62, drowned. When the construction workers realized rescue boats could not get through the boil and Ralph-Neely was hypothermic and unable to hold ropes thrown to her, they cleared a path for their American 7260 crawler crane to bring it within reach. Oglesbee hooked on and Lowe flew him in to pull Ralph-Neely to safety.

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