Among them is Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan, who is credited with helping evacuate more than 160 campers. This was Ruskan’s first recovery mission.
SAN ANTONIO — A week after the U.S. Coast Guard helped rescue hundreds of girls from Camp Mystic, the crew members are opening up about their heroic efforts.
Among them is Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan, who is credited with helping evacuate more than 160 campers. This was Ruskan’s first recovery mission with the Coast Guard.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Ruskan said.
The crew, deployed from Corpus Christi, faced challenges reaching the Hill Country due to ongoing severe weather. But once they arrived in Ingram, Texas, the mission began.
“We never thought this would happen in our lives,” said flight mechanic Seth Reeves.
Our cameras captured the moment the Coast Guard successfully airlifted girls from the flooded campsite in Hunt to the high school in Ingram.
“Just all of them were distraught,” Reeves said. “These girls were watching their loved ones — unfortunately, some of their sisters — being swept away by the currents.”
More than 700 girls were attending Camp Mystic when the Guadalupe River began to overtake the grounds. Twenty-seven campers and counselors, including the camp’s director, lost their lives.
“Some of them were thrown out of windows to get into the helicopters,” said co-pilot Lt. Blair Ogujiofor. “That’s when the gravity of the situation really hit me.”
The four crew members recently had the chance to speak with a young girl they rescued. They said she thanked them for their efforts.
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do — not only listen to a small child who shouldn’t have to know the horrors of a tragedy like this, but to hear her thank us for something she doesn’t fully understand,” Reeves said.
Pilot Ian Hopper, a father himself, recalled an emotional moment with one of the campers.
“I see her with tears running down her face, and she’s scared,” Hopper said. “Clearly, she may have just lost her sisters. She may have just lost her friends. So, I turn around and give her a thumbs up.”
He said she returned the gesture with a soft smile.
“At that moment, I knew I wasn’t just moving people from one place to another — I felt like a dad rescuing my daughters,” Hopper said.
While these four men saved lives, they emphasized that there were many other heroes that day — including camp counselors and members of the National Guard.
“The community is strong. We see it every time we fly up there — we see the thousands of people on the riverbanks, sifting and searching,” Reeves said.