Accident Database

Report ID#65548

2001-08-26
accident date
Madison Gail
victim
6
victim age
Yakima
river
Confluence with Teanaway River to Thorp
section
Bristol Flats Spillway
location
n/a
gage
n/a
water level
N/A
river difficulty
Caught in Low Head Dam Hydraulic
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
One Boat Trip
factors
Private
trip type
Raft
boat type
status?
status

Description

A six-year old girl was killed on August 25th after her father, her brother and his friend rafted past warning signs on the Yakima River below Ellensburg, WA. The SeattleTimes reported that the group then ran the Bristol Flats Spillway, an irrigation structure that was responsible for three other deaths this year alone. Dam management recommends a 50-yard portage, and their personnel spend hours each day warning people not to run the dam. Both men had run the dam without incident previously. They swam ashore safely when their boat flipped. The water tore the life vest off Madison Gail, 6, and pulled her under water. Her body was recovered several miles downstream. A brother, 4, was pulled ashore by his father. Revived with CPR, he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/37398_drown01.shtml