S BEND, Ore. - Family members say crews have found the body of a 17-year-old girl who has been missing since a rafting accident near Maupin on Thursday. Danielle Hagler of Oregon City was rafting with a church group when their raft flipped over. Hagler was one of several passengers in the raft when it hit an infamous trouble spot broadside on the river and flipped over.
Though Hagler's body has been located, the water levels in the Deschutes River are too high for a recovery to be made.It could be several days before the body is removed. A witness said he saw all the other rafters except Danielle come to the surface after the boat flipped. Hagler was part of a Church of Latter Day Saints group that had been preparing for the rafting trip for a year, including whitewater rafting lessons. Hagler and the other rafters were wearing floatation devices at the time of the accident.A member of the church group who was on the trip says he suspects equipment in the raft and the strong current pinned Hagler under water.
Body of missing rafter found along Deschutes River
Monday, July 10, 2006
By FRANK MUNGEAM / KGW.com BEND, Ore. -- Searchers located the body of 17-year-old Danielle Hagler Sunday evening along the Deschutes River, according to a family member and a member of her church group. A trail runs along the Deschutes River. They said her body was found in an area of deep, fast-moving water, not far from where her raft overturned on Thursday. Due to hazardous conditions, her body might not be recovered for several more days.
Hagler was part of a church group rafting trip on the Deschutes River Thursday when her raft flipped over in the White Horse Rapids, a treacherous stretch of the Deschutes River. All the other occupants of the raft were able to swim to shore. One other girl, Misty Blair, was slightly injured in the accident, and was transported to a hospital in The Dalles for treatment.
Friends of Hagler had held out hope, noting Hagler had strong survival skills and was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident. Searchers spent three days scouring the river and the remote BLM land surrounding the river. This isn?t the first time a serious rafting accient has happened on the Deschutes. Two adults drowned and three children were rescued in 1993 after they went over Dillon Falls. Hagler would have been a senior at Oregon City High School. Teresa Bell and KGW reporter Jane Smith also contributed to this story.
