Accident Database

Report ID# 774

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  • Flush Drowning
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  • One Boat Trip

Accident Description

Phil Meyer reported that Costa Rica's famous Paucare River was the scene of a commercial rafting accident on February 16th. The trip consisted of a raft with two paying clients, a guide, and two guide trainees. The raft got too far left in Class IV Lower Wacas Rapid and washed up on some rocks above a ledge. The guide and his crew bounced the boat free, but then they dropped into a large hole and flipped. Everyone was taken down deep, then the boat and the people washed into an undercut rock wall. The victim, a 21 year-old trainee, was unconscious when he surfaced. Guides from several companies pulled him ashore and began CPR, but could not revive him. An autopsy showed that the victim, who had a history of shoulder problems, had dislocated his shoulder during the accident.

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