A 13-year-old Montana boy drowned in a river Wednesday after saving his sister from the water during a tubing outing — with authorities recovering his body following day.
Ephraim Dayley went missing in the Clarks Fork River near Fromberg, Montana, and his body was recovered Thursday around 2 p.m. local time, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff Josh McQuillam told MTN News that Dayley and his sister were tubing when the pair ran into trouble.
“She had fallen off the tube or was attempting to get off, kind of unclear, but at some point she did get off the tube, was struggling to get back on where he tried to save her,” McQuillam said.
“And he managed to do that, but she was not able to get him. She made it to shore and he did not.”
Search-and-rescue divers combed a stretch of the Clarks Fork River 6 to 10 feet deep where Dayley went under. The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office assisted with an emergency drone and a helicopter.
“Ephraim was located underwater using specialized underwater technology,” the sheriff’s office said. “He was brought to shore, where he was officially pronounced deceased.”
Dayley, one of nine siblings, was remembered by those who knew him as an “amazing hero.”
“He was always there to lend a hand or to tell a funny story to make me smile. You will be so so missed Ephraim,” one person wrote on a GoFundMe set up to assist his family.
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