Accident Database

Report ID# 893

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  • PFD Not Worn or Present
  • Does not Apply
  • Inexperience
  • One Boat Trip

Accident Description

Two college students flipped a canoe on the powerful Yellowstone River in Montana. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, no one actually saw Mark Mitzel, 24, and Andrew Smith, 22, capsize in the river’s Class III rapids on May 23rd. Unfortunately, neither man was wearing a PFD. A jogger on a nearby path saw one man get pulled underwater and contacted authorities. A lengthy search was needed to find the bodies.

http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/810483

See also http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/06/06/build/state/34-canoeaccident.inc for an account of the retrieval of the bodies, which were found two weeks later, 10 miles downstream

.http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2005/05/24/news/01drowned.txt

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