Woman Saved after Falling Into Missouri River Near St. Louis

A woman is recovering from hypothermia after spending more than a half-hour in the Missouri River, clinging to tree roots until rescues arrived.

The unidentified woman was walking her dog in a suburban St. Louis park Wednesday night when she slipped off a bank and couldn’t get back to safety. She used her cellphone to call 911.

Rescuers had trouble pinpointing her location. They finally found her nearly a half-hour later.

A firefighter had to go into the water to grab the woman. She clung to him as he swam upstream until a colleague tossed a rope. A rescue boat then arrived to take the firefighter and the woman back to shore.

The woman’s dog also was found — muddy and wet but otherwise OK.