Quite often statements about rescuers "risking their own lives" are exaggerated and a bit hyperbolic, but that is not the case with swift water rescue, which can turn deadly very quickly. This is especially the case with strainers, the situation in which these gentlemen found themselves. These guys are blissfully ignorant, and evidently unteachable.

Are swift water situations deadly? When I was actively doing SAR, drowning, usually in flash floods, was the second leading cause of death, only behind "falling from height". This was in the Sonoran Desert, centered around Tucson, Arizona. We had seven fatalities in one flood on one Sunday afternoon.