THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABERDEEN, Wash. -- A fisherman who was trapped in boat as it was taking on water used a pocket knife to cut off two fingertips so he could escape.
Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott says rescuers found the fingertips for an attempt to reattach them.
It happened yesterday on the upper Wynooche (weye-NOO'-chee) River as 51-year-old William Messenger was fishing with his future son-in-law.
Their boat was swept into rapids and wedged into a log jam, with Messenger's hand pinned between the boat and a log.
Scott says Messenger was unable to free himself, and as the boat began to take on water and sink, he cut off two of his fingertips with a pocket knife to escape.
Messenger was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in satisfactory condition.
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