The 2-year-old first slipped off a path at Multnomah Falls and as the mother tried to grab her child they both plunged down the side at about 12:15 p.m., KGW reported.
A local man jumped down 18-feet to save a mother and her two-year-old daughter who both narrowly survived with their lives after falling 100 feet while hiking the Multnomah Falls outside Portland on Sunday.
Shane Roundy, 33, was waiting for his daughter outside the public restrooms when he heard yelling coming from the 620 foot falls. He ran over to the small crowd of people to ask what happened when he was told two people fell off the bridge into the water.
Without thinking he jumped over the railing, hopped over fallen trees, and jumped into the icy water following the screams: ‘Someone help my daughter.’
Roundy found Olivia, who he believes is in her late 20s and her two-year-old daughter Katie in the water. Olivia begged Roundy to help Katie first and he took the crying toddler and hugged her tight trying to warm her up.
Putting Katie down for a moment he rushed back to pull Olivia, who was injured, from the water. He told Katie he would be back for her and ran back to the wall to bring the crying toddler to safety.
The wall I jumped over was 18 feet tall but I didn’t notice until later,’ he told DailyMail.com.
When he made it back to the wall where a group of about six hikers had gathered to help he noticed it was an 18-foot drop.
Roundy tossed the child up to the man who caught her. Roundy then ran back to Olivia to tell her that Katie was safe. He tried to help Katie but she asked that he go back to keep her daughter safe.
When Roundy returned to Katie, a woman ran down the trail screaming for help. Jean, Olivia’s mother and Katie’s grandmother, had run down the trail trying to get help for eight minutes.
After Roundy, an off-duty paramedic rushed to help Olivia until authorities arrived.
The mother and daughter were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Multnomah Falls, located about 30 miles northeast of Portland, is the state’s tallest waterfall and the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It is listed as a moderate trail with the bridge being reached the first few minutes of the hike.
Source:dailymail.co.uk,
