A commercial raft flipped in the Middle Keaney tailwaves and a 16 y.o. boy washed into Meatgrinder Rocks above lower Keaney. He washed through chute on right side of Meatgrinder and pinned where two rocks join. Guides from several companies responded and had him out in @10 minutes. They tried to pull him out upstream but eventually forced him under where the rocks pinched together and he washed out.. His PFD did not come off. They got him ashore quickly; CPR was attempted, without success. German teen drowns on New River rafting trip By Chris Lawrence in WV Metro News | August 14, 2013 MetroNews staff photo Middle Keeney Rapid on New River where teenager was swept from raft. FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — A foreign exchange student from Germany became the first whitewater rafting fatality of 2013 in West Virginia. National Park Service officials did not identify the 16-year-old youth, pending notification of relatives. “He was on a commercial trip and went out of the raft in middle Keeney and got washed into an area known as ‘meat grinder,'” said Chief River Ranger Jeff West. “They just weren’t able to get him out of there quick enough.” The teen was part of an Ohio group rafting with Adventures West Virginia Resort. Officials said it was the first time in the resort’s history they lost a juvenile on a rafting trip. The victim was among eight bilingual students from Germany in a raft with a veteran and highly experienced guide, according to resort officials. “It’s a group of exchange students between Germany and Ohio,” said Dave Arnold, managing member of the resort. “This group has come with us many, many times. Our company and employees are deeply saddened by this accident” The investigation was continuing, West said. “Immediately all of the guides on the trip pulled over and began working to get the young man out. They did get him out fairly quickly and started CPR on him, but weren’t able to bring him back,” West said. “I don’t see any wrongdoing here at all. Whitewater rafting is an adventure sport and to be an adventure sport there’s an element of risk. Sometimes Mother Nature just doesn’t forgive us.” “We are grateful for the quick and professional response of the National Park Service and local support rescue services who aided in the rescue attempt,” said Arnold. “Everyone who helped with the rescue and recovery efforts and is working with the students has been professional and supportive during this difficult time.” According to Arnold, the river was at 5.5 feet at the Fayette Station gauge at the time of the drowning. Though West said the level was unusually high for mid-August after heavy summer rains, he emphasized the water level was not considered unsafe for rafting. Boy, 16, dies in rafting accident on Lower New River By Staff reports CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 16-year-old boy died during a rafting accident on the Lower New River Tuesday, officials with the National Park Service said.Park rangers got the call at 2:38 p.m. and arrived to find CPR being administered on the boy. He was taken to Plateau Medical Center around 3:50 p.m. and pronounced dead shortly after, Robin Snyder, a spokeswoman for NPS, said The incident happened at the Keeney Rapids. “At this section of the river, there is an undercut rock –i t’s called the ‘Meat Grinder,’ ” Snyder said. “That’s literally what it called and people know it. “I think that’s where this young man got hung up.” Snyder said the boy, whose name has not been released, may be the first rafting death of the season. NPS rangers are investigating the death. From Paddle Prattle: I was there when the teenager drowned. I was in a boat behind his and we pulled up as they started CPR. We stayed there for at least an hour as my guide joined in the the fight to save his life. We looked on as they pushed his chest and breathed into his mouth hoping beyond reason that this time it would work and time seemed to stand still. I kept waiting for it to be like the movies and for him to all of a sudden take a breath and for us all to cheer and go on about our lives. But he didn’t and we didn’t. He had come to New to have the time of his life and it turned out to be the moment of his death. I had gone alone to the New – my family had gone on the Upper – because I was more experienced. So now I was in the raft with a family I did not know. They turned out to be tea party members while I am a liberal progressive socialist, and as the rescue helicopters circled over head looking for a landing spot, we bonded in a way that drowned all stereotypes and generalizations. I will never know the teen’s name yet my heart aches for him and I wear black today. I think of his family and the call they received thousands of miles away in Germany. The one that alters everything for ever. I was aghast after the accident that no one from our white water rafting company ACE provided trauma counseling for the guides (that I know of) or for us. And after the accident our guide continued to use the same worn out hyperbole; yet I knew he was in a tough spot because to acknowledge what truly happened might freak us out so much that we would not want to continue and we had many more rapids to go. Even though I knew the numbers were in our favor, I gritted my teeth each time, and hoped it was not my turn, because after what we had witnessed I knew now more than ever that life could not be counted on to last forever. I think of this boy, that he most likely woke up excited and prepared to love the water as much as everyone else before him, and that the water turned on him. And I think he would not his death to stop me from loving the water and the rocks but I don’t know how to do that now. I would love any body who has experienced this or anything similar to share their thoughts about death on the river to help me process this experience. Thank you. Denise Woods