3 teenagers rescued after canoe swept into waterfall

The Lake County Sheriff’s Department says the 15-year-old from Rochester ended up in the water after his canoe, with two other teens on board, went over the Upper Basswood Falls near the Canadian border sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Rescue crews flew as far as possible into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in a USA Forest Service float plane. Suffering from extreme hypothermia and a leg injury, he was almost unconscious during the last half-hour of the rescue. The damaged canoe was pinned against the rocks by the force of the rushing water, trapping the 15-year-old, the statement said. The boy was airlifted from the scene and transferred to a Forest Service floatplane, and then to an ambulance to be taken to the Ely hospital.

The boy was freed at about 5 p.m., Johnson said. The boy’s name was not released.

The Upper Basswood Falls can be treacherous, experts say.

Sheriff Casey Johnson said his office received a call around 1:08 p.m. from the Sommers Canoe Base in Ely, saying an “adult and a youth” traveling in a canoe had gone over the edge of what Johnson described as the “25 to 30 foot” falls. Dick Barber, 78, of Minnetonka, Minn., died in 2013 when his canoe went over the falls. He was eventually taken to an Ely hospital.