Boy Scout drowns in rafting accident

[fgoodwin]

Teen drowns on scout expedition

 

FARMINGTON, N.M. -- A Scout expedition on the Animas River, west of Farmington, has ended with the death of one of the teenaged Scouts.

 

A 15-year-old apparently drowned after falling out of the raft. Another scout who fell into the swift-moving water was pulled to safety.

 

The victim was found five miles down river.

 

There were a total of eight Scouts and two adult Scout Masters on the rafting trip.

 

http://www.krqe.com/archives/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY%5bNews%5d=ID&ID%5BNews%5D=10793

http://tinyurl.com/ak7js

 

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Boy Scout dies in rafting accident in northwestern New Mexico

 

FARMINGTON, N.M. A 15-year-old Boy Scout died today after falling off a raft into the Animas River in northwestern New Mexico.

 

That's according to Jan Gimar, an executive with the Boy Scouts in Farmington. Gimar says the boy was sitting on a corner of the rubber raft when he fell in.

 

What caused him to fall wasn't immediately known.

 

Gimar says the boy was wearing a life vest but the current pulled it off.

 

A call to Farmington police for further details was not immediately returned.

 

The victim's identity was not immediately released.

 

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=3544010

[fgoodwin]

The boy has been identified (Chase Hathenbruck) and it turns out he was a LDS Varsity Scout (Team 313), which is the subject of another thread:

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=101845

 

Here is more info about the unfortunate accident:

 

http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=20151

[Bob White]

"the current pulled it off"? An importand safety procedure is not only to wear the PFD but to wear the correct size and have it fitted properly. Another very tragic incident that was probably avoidable.

[Gags]

I am well aware of how strong a current can be even in the absence of rapids, but are there any whitewater experts out there that could explain how a life jacket could get pulled off? (leVoyageur?) How loose / poor fitting does it have to be? I'm assuming these were NOT the orange "summer camp" style that just goes around your neck. Has anyone seen this happen before?

 

Thanks,

 

Gags

[le Voyageur]

Geezs, what a sad report...

 

I would need to know the make/type of PFD the scout was using. Just hope that it wasn't one of those el cheapo's found at Wal Marts, and summer camps..

 

Before commenting further, I need to find more information...but, I have my suspicions...

 

 

 

[jteamnmj]

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161340,00.html

 

Looks like they got caught to far out. In this article it says they had planned to get out sooner. What a shame. Sad sad story.

 

 

Julie

 

[jteamnmj]

Sorry my link didn't work but if you go to foxnews.com you can find the article.

Julie

[le Voyageur]

On edit...

 

here's the story..

 

Chase Hathenbruck, 15, of Farmington, drowned after being tossed from a raft caught in an undertow in the Animas River northeast of Farmington.

At least three other boys and a Scout leader were pulled to safety by rescuers.

We did everything by the numbers to make this a safe activity, said Jan Gamar, senior district executive for the Boy Scouts of America in Farmington. We are looking at it at this point as a freak accident. This young man was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We are heartbroken over the whole thing.

Gamar said all members of Farmington Varsity Team 313 were wearing life jackets as they set off down the river near Cedar Hills, north of Aztec, for an overnight camping trip.

 

Link - http://www.daily-times.com/

 

The worst possible of all swift water rescues - low head wall dams. We call it being Maytagged, these dams create powerful hydralics that spin, and dis-orientate it's victims, and a PFD won't save you when you get in one....

 

[le Voyageur]

on edit (again)

 

Studying the photo leaves me wondering just how well this trek was planned...

 

The person in the water has no helmet, no PFD. Why?

 

Rescuers - those two rescuers are not trained in swift water rescues. No Class 3/5 PFD's with quick releases. One is wearing an orange vest, and the other guy, nothing, and lacking a helmet. The gear they are using seems minimal, and the traditional rigging for a low head wall dam rescue isn't there...

[acco40]

I'm no expert but both appearto be wearing a helmet to me.

[fgoodwin]

And one appears to be wearing a yellow PFD, while the other looks to be wearing a red one.

[le Voyageur]

I stand corrected on the helmets....looks like Petzls...for what they are wearing, it looks like an orange safety vest...

 

To see the correct gear, go here....

 

http://www.northwater.com/html/rescue_pfd.html

[Gags]

This story keeps getting worse: (Sorry for the length - posting the link would eventually just show a new lead story)

 

MANCOS, Colo. A medical helicopter dispatched from Durango to help search for a missing rafter in Farmington Thursday later crashed en route to an unrelated emergency call near this southwestern Colorado town.

All three aboard the helicopter the pilot, a nurse and a paramedic were killed, according to officials at Tri-State Care Flight, the Bullhead, Ariz.-based company that owns and operates the helicopters.

The cause of the crash was unknown.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are conducting the investigation.

Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald Wallace said deputies responded to reports of a helicopter crash at 2 p.m. in a wooded mountain area east of Mancos, near the La Plata-Montezuma county line.

We arrived and found a downed helicopter with three occupants. All three were dead at the scene, Wallace said.

Names of the victims were being withheld, pending notification of family.

The helicopter, which is based at Mercy Medical Center in Durango, was responding to a logging accident near Cortez, Colo., when it went down, said David Bruzzese, a hospital spokesman.

The crash occurred before the helicopter could pick up the injured logger. A medical helicopter from Farmington later transported the injured man, Wallace said.

The helicopter that crashed had been helping rescue officials search for a 15-year-old Boy Scout who was thrown from his raft into the Animas River near Flora Vista earlier Thursday.

It was the search helicopter that eventually spotted Chase Hathenbruck near the Murray Street Bridge in Farmington.

Rescue workers managed to pull the youth ashore but were unable to revive him.

Deputies remained at the crash site overnight to secure the scene for the investigation, Wallace said.

NTSB and FAA officials were expected to visit the crash site today.

Jul 1, 2005, 11:15 pm

 

[Eagle74]

Please be careful about coming to conclusions based on this single photo. After enlargement and enhancement of the photo it appears both rescuers are wearing PFDs and helmets, and both are using throwlines from an upstream throw rescue position. The scout also appears to be wearing a PFD, but is not wearing a helmet.

 

While the PFDs worn by the rescuers may or may not be ideal swift water rescue gear there is really nothing seriously wrong in the photo - other than that there's a victim in the low head. Putting together the bits and pieces of multiple news accounts, I expect that there's much more going on than meets the eye in this single photo. Other accounts note that a rescue boat was used during the rescues and other photos show multiple rescuers all with reasonable gear pulling in other victims using lines.

 

Given the lack of really good info and as an emergency rescue technician with swiftwater rescue training / certification, I would hesitate to critique the rescue operation based on these accounts and individual photos.

 

That the "current pulled off" the PFD of the scout however, raises a red flag.

 

[knottyfox]

It is so easy to sit in front of our computers in a safe environment and judge the action of others! The horrible thing is that a young life was lost! What can be done to prevent this from ever happening again? How can we console the family? What can we do to help? There is no need to attempt to impress one another on the net with our brilliance and hind site vision!