Two men from the St. Louis area were rescued by personnel from the Houston Rural Fire Department on Tuesday night of last week at the Sand Shoals area of the Big Piney River, north of Houston.
Houston Rural Chief Don Gaston said the men (one in his 50s and the other 21) had put in at Mineral Springs and intended to float to Boiling Springs after camping out for a night in between.
But the younger man became very sick, Gaston said, and was cramping and vomiting before the pair stopped and tried to set up camp.
But the ailing floater got worse, so a call was placed to 911.
“Thank God they had a cell phone and got service out there,” Gaston said.
Six Houston Rural responders followed the men’s instructions and located them on the other side of the river from the Sand Shoals access. The younger man was taken by ambulance to Texas County Memorial Hospital at about 11 p.m.
“He was cold and shaking and as white as a sheet,” Gaston said. “This was one of those things that turned out good but could have been a lot worse.”