Accident Database

Report ID#69573

2008-10-03
accident date
Unidentified Woman
victim
62
victim age
Gauley
river
7 (Upper). Summersville Dam to Mason Branch
section
Below Pillow Rock Rapid
location
2400 cfs
gage
Medium
water level
IV
river difficulty
Health Problem
cause code(s)
Heart Attack / Heart Failure
injury type(s)
Other
factors
Commercial
trip type
Raft
boat type
status?
status

Description

October 3, 2008 Woman dies on Gauley rafting trip By The Associated Press FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — A Florida woman has died of a heart attack following a whitewater rafting accident on the Gauley River. National Park Service Ranger Gary Hartley said the 62-year-old woman died in an ambulance on her way to a hospital today. Hartley declined to release her name until her family was notified. Hartley said the woman was on a raft that flipped going through a particularly dangerous rapid known as Pillow Rock. After the guide pulled everyone from the water below the rapid, he said, the woman began having trouble breathing. Hartley said the guide beached the raft and called for help. The woman went into cardiac arrest after National Park Service rangers arrived, and they could not revive her, he said.