Austin Woods Ball attempted to save a girl from drowning, Torrey, Utah, July 15, 2011. A 12-year-old girl was wading in the Fremont River below a 15-foot-high waterfall when she was drawn by a strong current into the turbulent water of the pool at the base of the waterfall. She struggled to stay afloat. In another party at the scene, Ball, 33, structural engineer, was in the shallow water of a larger pool just downstream. Alerted to the girl’s plight, he left the water, picked up a tree branch nearby, and went to the rocky edge of the smaller pool. As the branch was not long enough to reach the girl, Ball jumped into the nine-foot-deep water and advanced toward her. Submerging repeatedly, the girl was unable to grasp the branch. Ball discarded it and struggled to reach the girl, but both were overcome and submerged. About a minute later they were swept from the pool into shallow water, from which they were recovered, unconscious, by others. They were revived at the scene and then taken to the hospital. Ball was detained overnight for treatment of having nearly drowned, and he recovered.
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