I am a firefighter with the City of Union Gap. We were on the initial dispatch to this incident. I can try to answer any questions you have about the incident. Here is a quick summary. Four boys aged 14 to 24 put in on the Naches River (which flows into the Yakima) at 16th Ave. in Yakima in the afternoon in an inflatable boat and an inflatable kayaks, all wearing PFDs, no helmets or wet/dry suits. Around 7pm the boys went over the Wapato Diversion Dam that spans the Yakima River around I-82 milepost 39 and State Route 97 milepost 174. There is only one sign at the dam at far river right. They went over a little left of center. Their PFDs and most of their clothes were torn off in the hydraulic at the base of the dam. The dam is a vertical 7 foot drop (more or less depending on flows). Boil line was approximately ten feet from the face. Initial indications are that all four were spit out within a few minutes. Two survived with minor injuries/hypothermia; two didn’t. I haven’t had a chance to contact the survivors since the day of the incident yet to get the rest of their story. We’d like to see some more signs put up to warn boaters of the danger ahead. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_missing_rafters.html?source=mypi Last updated May 11, 2009 8:34 a.m. PT Search suspended for two Yakima River rafters THE ASSOCIATED PRESS YAKIMA, Wash. — The Yakima County sheriff’s office says it will wait a few days before reassessing the search for two teens missing after their raft overturned in the Yakima River. Search-and-rescue Sgt. Jerrold Towell said Monday the water level, weather or other conditions may change. He says a full day of searching Sunday by air and water covered everything visible for now. The two teens, one from Toppenish and one from Wapato, were in a group of four whose inflatable raft capsized Saturday evening, going over the turbulent water of the Wapato irrigation diversion dam at Union Gap. The other two – brothers from Wapato who were wearing life vests – safely made it to shore. Of the two still missing, Towell says one wore a life vest and one did not.