Accident Database

Report ID#69545

2008-05-25
accident date
Walter Cruz
victim
53
victim age
Penobscot, W. Branch
river
Ripogenus Gorge to Debsconeag
section
Pockwacamus Falls
location
n/a
gage
n/a
water level
IV
river difficulty
Flush Drowning
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
Other
factors
Commercial
trip type
Raft
boat type
status?
status

Description

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=87883 Man Dies Following Rafting Accident (NEWS CENTER) — A Massachusetts man died Sunday shortly after falling out a raft on the west branch of the Penobscot River. According to the Maine Warden Service, 53-year old Walter Cruz of Seakonk, Massachusetts was on a whitewater rafting trip run by New England Outdoors. Cruz and 4 other people fell out of their rafts at Pockwockamus Falls around 11:30 AM. When Cruz was brought back into the raft, he lost consciousness. He died at Millinocket Regional Hospital. The state medical examiner’s office is looking into the cause of death. Cruz was rafting with his two sons, aged 15 and 17.