Accident Database

Report ID# 175

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  • Flush Drowning
  • Does not Apply
  • Inadequate Equipment
  • Inexperience
  • One Boat Trip

Accident Description

The Carbon River traverses a wide valley before tumbling into Class V Fairfax Gorge. The stretch contains many logjams and is not run by local paddlers. On April 29, 1987 two teenaged girls launched a cheap raft and set out to run the stretch with a single paddle. After capsizing in a log jam they clung to a rock for hours. At dusk they slipped off the rock into the river. The older girl survived; the younger one did not. The body was spotted and recovered the next day.

Source: Takoma Morning News Tribune

Analysis: Inexperience and inadequate equiment are a potentially deadly combination. The surviving girl is lucky to be alive.

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