Rangers Ignored 4 in Icy Lake, 3 Men Claim : 1 Drowns, Others Rescued as Witness Goes for Help an Hour After Canoe Overturns

Two survivors and a witness said Tuesday that U.S. Forest Service rangers failed to help after a canoe capsized, spilling four men into an icy Antelope Valley area lake, drowning one of them.

The men reportedly clung to their overturned canoe in the freezing water of Elizabeth Lake in the Angeles National Forest, about 16 miles west of Lancaster, for nearly an hour late Monday afternoon before Cameron Caldwell, a local resident, realized that help was not on the way and drove two miles to alert personnel at a Los Angeles County fire station.

Caldwell, 20, of Lake Hughes, also told a private campground employee, Kenneth Gray, who provided a rowboat. Gray and county firefighter Jim Smalley reached the overturned canoe and pulled three of the men from the water.

But the fourth man slipped from sight and drowned. His body was recovered from 14 feet below the surface at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday by sheriff’s divers, who were hampered by 42-degree water and visibility of no more than six inches. He was identified Tuesday night by the county coroner’s office as Robert Varrick, 24, of Lancaster.

The three who survived were suffering from hypothermia, with body temperatures as low as 80 degrees, county Fire Department paramedics said.

Melvin Sampson, 21, of Lancaster and Daniel Vail, 27, of Quartz Hill were under intensive care Tuesday at Antelope Valley Medical Center. Antonio Urdiales, 22, was reported in good condition at High Desert Hospital in Lancaster.

Sampson and Vail told reporters that as they clung to their overturned canoe in the freezing water, they saw two uniformed rangers in a green U.S. Forest Service truck on shore, about 100 yards away. (County fire officials later estimated the distance to be about half that.)

“We called to them and told them that we had an epileptic with us,” Vail said Tuesday. “That was Tony (Urdiales). He was on top of the overturned canoe. We were trying to keep him as calm as possible so he wouldn’t go into a seizure. We kept telling him to hold on.”

He said the rangers, a man and a woman, “heard us plainly. They kind of waved their arms like, ‘What can we do?’ and then they drove away.”

Sampson said of the Forest Service rangers, “They were right there, looking at us. We were yelling for help. I saw them drive away. I thought they were going to get help. But nobody came. I blacked out and here I am (in the hospital). I don’t know who helped us or how I even got here.”

Their account was backed up by Caldwell, who said that he was on the shore in his own truck and could see the four clinging to the overturned canoe. He said the rangers drove down to a ramp near them and that the male ranger put on his siren for a moment, got out to ask what was wrong, then drove away with the female ranger.

“They were both laughing as they drove by,” Caldwell said. “They never came back.”

Finally, Caldwell said, “I saw they had drifted so far and so long, I knew they were in trouble.”

Saugus District Ranger Mike Wickman said Tuesday that a “preliminary investigation indicates there were two Forest Service rangers at the scene.” But, he said, “there was no indication of an emergency at the time.”

However, Wickman said, “Our investigation is continuing.”

Sampson said from his hospital bed that it is possible that the rangers did not realize that he and his friends were really in trouble, because they were not far from shore and might be expected to swim.

He said he tried to do that, but was wearing heavy boots and the water was so cold that he knew he could not make it, so he paddled back to the canoe.

“It was freezing,” he said. “I could barely move my fingers. I just froze. I just gave it up. There was no way. . . . “

Gray, the campground employee who rowed firefighter Smalley out from shore to rescue three of the men, said he could see Varrick looking at him from the canoe, which by then had drifted about 30 yards away.

Gray said he turned his head to respond to something the firefighter said and when he turned back around, Varrick had disappeared.

“I guess he was still looking at me,” he said.

Gray took off his boots and dove into the water in an effort to reach Varrick, but “It was freezing. I couldn’t feel him anywhere.”

He said his legs cramped immediately and he was forced to climb back into the boat.

“I had a hard time sleeping last night,” he said.