Accident Database

Report ID# 184

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  • PFD Not Worn or Present
  • Does not Apply
  • Cold Water
  • One Boat Trip

Accident Description

WOMAN MISSING AFTER CANOE CAPSIZES

Colorado River near , Utah : April 13, 1993

DESCRIPTION: Kristen Maren, 24, a teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin was on a spring vacation trip to Utah with her fiancée. They were paddling their new canoe near the Big Bend Campground on the Colorado when they flipped in a class I rapid. Neither person was wearing a PFD, and witnesses saw them holding onto each other until the current separated them. Her partner managed to grab hold of a flotation cushion and get to shore, but she disappeared and was still missing two days later.

SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal

ANALYSIS: The river here is not difficult, and the woman would have almost certainly survived had she been wearing a life vest.

 

 

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