Young woman dies rafting on Chilliwack River

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昨天刚刚出事的。

不是我吓唬大家的，漂流还是灰常灰常危险的... ...  :ns:  :pa:



Young woman dies rafting on Chilliwack River
Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008
The body of a 23-year-old female from Victoria was recovered from the Chilliwack River Saturday.
The young woman was on a guided rafting tour when the raft flipped and she became separated from the raft, swept down river, and subsequently became trapped and drowned.

Walter Balaz said he was scouting out fishing spots above and below a bridge when he saw a man swimming in the white water. He soon found out that two rafts had come down the river and that one had flipped after hitting a big rock.

A search and rescue team worked for about an hour on the recovery effort.
He watched as the search effort unfolded and the crew worked in the rough waters. Balaz estimates an hour passed before a member of the crew indicated the body had been located.


A search and rescue team worked for about an hour on the recovery effort.
Walter Balaz/Special to the Sun

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Font:****"A whistle sounded, he had found something," Balaz said, adding that the experience had left him feeling shaken.
Witness Lydia Warkentim said the raft "first went sideways and then it flipped" after hitting the rock. She said that six of the seven people in the group floated down the river and were pulled to on a second raft or nearby kayaks. It wasn't until later that she realized someone had "gone down."

Warketim's husband Walter said the rafters were all wearing helmets and lifejackets. "The rafting company did what they could," he said. "The first one tipped one tipped and the other one was right behind. It's amazing how the girl went straight down."

In a telephone interview, RCMP Const. Lee-Anne Dunlop said the investigation is ongoing and no further details are available at this time.

Earlier this week, RCMP praised two brothers who risked their lives in an unsuccessful attempt to save a teenage girl from drowning in the swift-moving Chilliwack River.

The 17-year-old girl's family, who asked that she not be identified, also offered their thanks to Chilliwack brothers Clayton Kellum, 25, and Dave, 30.

Clayton Kellum, speaking briefly to reporters Thursday, said he and his brother heard shouting from across the river early Wednesday evening that someone was stranded in a logjam upstream from the Vedder Bridge.

The two made their way to the spot where the girl was submerged and apparently stuck under a log.
"She was about a foot under water, she was in clean sight," he said. "That's all we could think about: There's a young girl stuck drowning.

"She was white and her lips were blue, but people get saved after stuff like that," Clayton said.
The brothers got into the water, trying to reach the girl and pull her out, but couldn't quite manage it, he said.
"I was barely hanging on to the tree that she was stuck under," Kellum said. His brother Dave, apparently exhausted, spent the night in hospital before being released.

The brothers have been tubing on the Chilliwack for years without incident, and Clayton said the stretch of the river where the girl drowned is generally safe this time of year -- except right around the log jam.

He thought the inflatable dinghy the girl and a friend were using must have capsized. The friend was able to make it to safety.

With files from the Chilliwack Times and Kelly Sinoski