An image of the Klickitat River. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office Press Release from Sheriff Bob Songer
June 5, 2023
Missing Kayaker in Glenwood
On 06/03/2023, Klickitat County Dispatch received a call that a female had fallen out of her Kayak and went over the low head dam on the Klickitat River near the Glenwood Fish Hatchery.
Klickitat County Sheriff’s Deputy Erik Beasley responded and requested that Klickitat County Search and Rescue (SAR) and the Glenwood Fire Department be paged to the location. Department of Emergency Management (DEM) Director Jeff King contacted Deputy Beasley and advised he was contacting Wet Plant Whitewater Company to respond with Swift Water Rescue certified personnel. He also requested Dispatch to page out the DEM UAS team.
When Deputy Beasley arrived at the area of the report, he made contact with the Glenwood Fire Department, and they were able to determine the last location of the missing person after making contact with the husband of the missing kayaker.
The SAR K9 Team deployed and searched the river banks where the terrain allowed them to go.
Raft and Kayak teams, composed of SAR personnel and members from Wet Planet, floated the river from the Fish Hatchery to Leidle Park. Other kayakers heard about the incident and floated the river ahead of the search teams to look for the missing female.
Ground teams from Glenwood Fire, SAR, and other local people began searching roads and areas that were accessible by foot. The DEM UAS Team flew drones over the river to locate the missing female. The search continued until dark and resumed the following day.
On 06/04/2023, SAR Personnel and the DEM UAS Team responded to the scene and continued to search the river and banks of the Klickitat River. The search was suspended at approximately 1:00 p.m. with no signs of the missing kayaker. The Klickitat River is running swiftly this time of year with the snow runoff, and the steep terrain posed serious safety concerns to the search teams.
The missing female was identified as 29-year-old Sandhya Sridhar. At the time of her disappearance in the Klickitat River, she was wearing a pink hooded sweatshirt and gray yoga-style hiking pants. She was not wearing a life jacket when she fell out of her Kayak.