Cole Ortega, 14, a competitive snowboarder from Bend, Oregon lost his arm (between the elbow and shoulder) while surfing in Pacific City, Oregon after he was run over by a dory (a 20-foot-long motorized boat) driven by Darrel Martin, 55, of Beaver, Oregon, according to a story on Oregon Live.
Other surfers grabbed the boy’s severed arm and helped him to shore on a surfboard. Doug Shugart, an Oregon State Police trooper checking fishing licenses, rushed into the water to help, said Tillamook County Sheriff Todd Anderson. Shugart grabbed his medical bag and started working on the boy, whose arm was severed between the elbow and shoulder.
Apparently, the boats come in and out off the beach and when the surf gets big, the “high waves often obscure visibility in the popular surfing area.
A Life Flight crew airlifted him to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. His condition was not available Sunday night.
Our thoughts are with Cole and his entire family.
[Editors’ Note: For updated coverage click here.]
[Link: Oregon Live photo: Mt. Bachelor]
