By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Three men working in the St. Joseph River Friday morning are lucky to be alive.
The men were hired by a contracor for French Paper Mill to clear the logs off of the rack and around bouys, when their boat motor got caught on a log.
Bill Green and Bill McGill jumped off the boat and worked their way to a pile of logs and held on to a wire until the Niles City Fire and Rescue Squad was able to help them out.
The men were trapped on the logs for approximately an hour by the strong current before they were able to get off saftely.
All three men ended up in the water, but Josh Darnell didn't get off the boat in time and went over the dam with the boat. He eventually swam to the side and pulled himself to safety on the bank of the river.
When asked if he could even describe the situation, all Darnell said, "I paid for it," by not getting off in time.
McGill didn't recall much of the situation, he doesn't even know how they got to where they were. "I don't really know what happened. I know I heard some people screaming to get out of the water and I couldn't. I was out of energy."
All three were pretty shaken up after the incident, not wanting to talk, but all were lucky to walk away with only a few bruises.
They all declined treatment by SMACS for their minor scrapes and bruises, according to Niles Police Department Captain Jim Merriman.