Death Reported During First Weekend of Gauley Season
Gauley rafting season got off to a deadly start. One man died while rafting on Saturday, just one day into the season. Chief Ranger Gary Hartley says 40-year-old Eric Clark of Circleville, Ohio died of what appears to be cardiac arrest.
Monday September 14, 2009
Ohio man killed in WVa rafting accident
by The Associated Press
SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - An Ohio man has died after he was knocked into the Upper Gauley River while on a whitewater rafting trip. Eric Clark, 40, of Circleville, Ohio, was pronounced dead at Summersville Memorial Hospital on Saturday. Chief Ranger Gary Hartley of the New River Gorge National River says Clark was rafting on the Upper Gauley with a tour group. A wave knocked four rafters and a guide into the water. All five managed to get back onto boats, but Hartley says Clark apparently went into cardiac arrest at that point.