The Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department boat crews responded to a call about 4:02 p.m. May 22 about a man at Kaw Point holding onto tree limbs over the Missouri River, according to a Fire Department spokesman.
Boat crews were able to get close enough to the man to give him a life vest and pull him from the river, the spokesman said. They brought him to a ramp at Kaw Point, and Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department personnel treated him for exhaustion and minor abrasions to his arms and legs, according to the spokesman.
Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department rescue boats had also been called in and assisted in deploying boats, the spokesman said.
The 54-year-old man, a resident of Kansas City, Mo., told the boat crews that he had been fishing on the bank when his fishing line got tangled on the tree limbs.
He said he tried to detangle his fishing line by going into the tree limbs, and he slipped, falling into the river.
He said he was taken down the river by the current and grabbed onto overhanging branches to prevent being swept down the river, the spokesman said.
Kaw Point is the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.