Accident Database

Report ID#65976

2004-09-11
accident date
Victor Fernandes
victim
46
victim age
Kennebec
river
1) Kennebec Gorge: Harris Station Dam to Carry Brook
section
Three Sisters
location
8000 cfs
gage
High
water level
IV
river difficulty
Flush Drowning
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
High Water
factors
Commercial
trip type
Raft
boat type
status?
status

Description

On September 11, 2004, a commercial party was running the Kennebec Gorge. This was one of four days of the season in which the maximum amount of water, 8000 cfs, is released from the Harris Dam. At Three Sisters (aka “Big Mama”), a commercial raft overturned. The guides retrieved most of the passengers, but 46-year-old Victor Fernandes, who was rafting with his fiancee and her children, was found downstream, unconscious and not breathing. Guides performed CPR, but Mr. Fernandes was pronounced dead later that day. The cause of death was determined to be drowning. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-04/09-14-04/a03lo337.htmhttp://lists.moac.org/pipermail/moac-kayak/2004-September/000232.html