Seattle – A fisherman had two of his fingertips reattached after cutting them off to free himself from a sinking boat, his employer said Tuesday.
Surgeons told William Messenger that circulation had returned to the severed tips, said David Groves, spokesman for the Washington State Labor Council.
Messenger, 51, and his future son-in-law, Jarrod Todd, 29, were fishing Sunday on the Wynoochee River when rapids swept their 16-foot drift boat into a log jam. The side of the boat slammed against a log, pinning Messenger’s left index and middle fingers. The pressure of the water held the boat in place.
The boat was turned upstream at a 45-degree angle and began to fill with water.
Todd escaped and went to a nearby home in Aberdeen for help, Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said. In the meantime, Messenger was straddling the quickly filling boat.
He cut his trapped fingertips with a pocket knife just minutes before Todd returned with help and tools, Scott said.
“Hindsight is 20-20,” Scott said. “If he had known help was not that far away, he might have held off taking the steps that he did.”
