Accident Database

Report ID#69688

2005-05-23
accident date
Mark Mitzel
victim
24
victim age
Yellowstone
river
1. Gardiner to Miner (Yankee Jim Canyon)
section
n/a
location
12,400 cfs
gage
High
water level
III
river difficulty
PFD Not Worn or Present
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
Inexperience, One Boat Trip
factors
Private
trip type
Other
boat type
status?
status

Description

Two college students flipped a canoe on the powerful Yellowstone River in Montana. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, no one actually saw Mark Mitzel, 24, and Andrew Smith, 22, capsize in the river’s Class III rapids on May 23rd. Unfortunately, neither man was wearing a PFD. A jogger on a nearby path saw one man get pulled underwater and contacted authorities. A lengthy search was needed to find the bodies. http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/810483 See also http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/06/06/build/state/34-canoeaccident.inc for an account of the retrieval of the bodies, which were found two weeks later, 10 miles downstream .http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2005/05/24/news/01drowned.txt