BROOKVILLE, Ind. (AP): Emergency responders rescued two women from a tree after their kayak capsized in the Whitewater River in eastern Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says conservation officers and other responders rescued the women Monday afternoon at a site south of Brookville. Family members thought the women drowned after they heard screams and found the empty kayak but couldn’t find the women. They were identified as Courtney Allen and Laura Fay, both of Dillsboro.

The women were found hanging onto a tree in the water. They couldn’t hear their family members because of the rapid water rushing around them.

Allen and Fay were wearing lifejackets, which they said saved their lives.

IDNR officers, the Franklin County sheriff’s department and Brookville emergency workers rescued the women.