Guided trip. Raft flipped at Shark's Tooth. High flows. Mike Spurell was "not doing well"; rescued by a guest.
DRYDEN, Wash. —
One man is dead after the raft he was in overturned on the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth. The Chelan County Sheriff's Office said the river raft flipped near Shark Tooth, a location on the Wenatchee River near Dryden, around 4:15 p.m. Thursday. There were seven people on the raft.
Spurrell, 46, was part of a group of seven that fell into the river about 4:15 p.m., the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The rafters overturned near Shark's Tooth, a section of whitewater a little less than a mile southeast of the Dryden Dam.
One of the rafters noticed that Spurrell was "not doing well" and swam him to shore, and he was not responsive, the news release said. They performed CPR on the him on the shore. Harris said in an email that witnesses stated that Spurrell never went under the water because he was a wearing a personal flotation device and a wetsuit.
The manner of his death has been ruled an accident. The cause of death was due to "underlying and well documented personal health issues which were exacerbated" after being ejected out of the raft, he said in an email, Harris said.
The accident was reported at 4:15 p.m. Fire and medic crews arrived around 4:25 p.m. and continued CPR until 5:18 p.m. when Spurrell was pronounced dead, according to the news release.
Water flow in the Wenatchee River is at or near record levels, the sheriff's office said.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the river was flowing at a rate of about 16,400 cubic feet per second Thursday. For comparison, the river was at its lowest in the last year in October when the flow was measured at 355 cubic feet per second.
The nearest water temperature gauge, located in Monitor, showed the Wenatchee River was about 46 degrees at the time of the accident.
The sheriff's office is asking the public to be cautious when near any rivers and always use a personal flotation device. The rivers are expected to be "extremely dangerous" over the next several days.
Chelan County Sheriff's Office deputies, personnel from Chelan County fire districts 6 and 3 and ambulance crews from Cascade Medical Center responded to the scene, according to the news release.
— News editor Pete O'Cain contributed to this story
