Two men rescued from California river share their harrowing ordeal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Two men rescued from a California river share the harrowing details of their experience.

"Life is very valuable, man. And so, you know, you have to always keep that in mind, man," said Jacob Bennet, one of the rescued men.

"He was tired. The raft was all caught up. You know, It was. It was just easier to call 911," said Steven Buckley, the other rescued man.

A fishing trip along the American River nearly ending in tragedy. Aerial footage showed crews working to reach Buckley and Bennet as both of them were stuck on a tree near the Watt Avenue Bridge, and Sacramento Fire used multiple resources to save the men.

"The boats usually will pick up some some of the trained swimmers and bring them out. And enact, whatever rescue or service need to be done. The tree sounds like it was about ten or 15 feet off the shoreline, and so they weren't able to make it to shore on their own."

BJ Burst, Sacramento Fire

Bennet is happy to be alive.

"I'm glad [Buckley]'s alive, too. I mean, I'm glad everybody's alive. That's, you know, that's greatest fear is losing life," Bennet expressed.

The men said that they got caught in a strong current that tore their inflatable raft.

"We slid and it started going toward the trees, hit the current and hit the trees. And then once they hit the trees, it was all over with," Buckley detailed.

Buckley cut up his leg as he hung onto the tree until help arrived.

Both of them say they were wearing life vests, and video from above showing one of those vests stuck to a log downstream.

Now, the two are sharing this message.

"Keep your life lifejackets on. Stay where it's calm and stay out of it. Stay out of the roughness. Watch out for trees and then that," Buckley remarked.

"Never go fishing in a in a rubber raft. First of all," Bennet added.