Californian rescued from waterfall after multiday ordeal

A Long Beach, California, man trapped behind the Seven Teacups waterfall near Springville following an equipment failure was rescued after being stuck for days.

The rescuee, Ryan Wardwell, 46, planned to rappel down the waterfall last Sunday when his lines came undone. The extreme hydraulic pressure of the Kern River forced him behind the waterfall, and others reported him missing when he didn’t return to his car, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said on social media.

“Every time he tried to swim out, he would get sucked back in by the eddy, and he just ended up back behind the waterfall again. And he tried that multiple times for multiple days,” Capt. Kevin Kemmerling of the sheriff’s office told SFGATE.

Sheriff’s office personnel used infrared technology to locate the area where Mr. Wardwell was trapped.

On Tuesday, a California Highway Patrol helicopter lowered a deputy, who got ahold of Mr. Wardwell amid the water and ascended to the aircraft.

The helicopter took Mr. Wardwell for treatment for minor injuries and dehydration, the sheriff’s office said.

“They were able to lower me perfectly right next to him. I was able to get him in a recovery suit, hook him up, get him back into the helicopter,” Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Craig Douglas told NBC News, adding that he thought Mr. Wardwell also had hypothermia at the time of the rescue.