Posted on 03/09/2006 7:11:46 AM PST by Rebelbase
OLD FORT (AP) — Daniel DeLaVergne, a whitewater kayaker who paddled one of North America's most dangerous rivers in less than 10 hours, died Wednesday after being hit by a train. He was 29.
Friends said they believed DeLaVergne was camping in the High Ridge Tunnel near Ridgecrest when the accident occurred Tuesday. He was struck by a 1,150-ton train heading west toward Asheville, Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said.
DeLaVergne was airlifted to Mission Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead.
National Geographic Adventure magazine named DeLaVergne a 2005 adventurer of the year for paddling the 50-mile run of the Stikine River in British Columbia with three other kayakers. The run is rated Class V+, the highest survivable rating for a river, and the magazine described the river as "the pinnacle of North American white water.".
The magazine said it normally takes three days to paddle the Stikine, but DeLaVergne and his friends did it in nine hours and 50 minutes.
"Daniel has done first descents in Chile, Argentina, the U.S., Newfoundland, British Columbia — the list goes on," said close friend and fellow kayaker John Grace, who paddled the Stikine with DeLaVergne. "He was an incredible friend, had an incredible work ethic and was an incredible person all around."
DeLaVergne was about 200 feet inside the 450-foot tunnel when the train struck him, McDowell County sheriff's Capt. Vick Hollifield said. Investigators found DeLaVergne's sleeping bag and camping gear in the tunnel, and his vehicle was nearby, Hollifield said.
DeLaVergne's friends believe he was scouting an area for a commercial he was shooting. Rain may have forced him to seek shelter in the tunnel, they said.
"We're not sure if he was asleep or what," he said. "The engineer told us that he had just enough time to catch a glimpse of him before he fell in front of the train. He applied the emergency brake. ... But it took a pretty good while to stop. I think it was a couple hundred yards that he was pushed down the track."
Your theory sounds likely.
I guess train engineers can say the same now...
He may have been asleep. The sound of the oncoming train may have woken him. He tried to scramble to safety, tripped and fell.
Not in bad taste if no one knows what it is.
Can you just imagine this young man's predicament after he had made the decision to take the short cut through the tunnel? He may have gotten halfway (200') when he either heard or felt the train coming. But which way was it coming from? Was it coming from behind or from his front? Does he drop his ruck sack and run back, or does he run ahead? If he made the wrong decision and ran in the wrong direction, he may have been approaching the end of the tunnel when the train blocked out the light in front of him as it entered the tunnel. Can you imagine the horror this young man felt as he realized he would have to turn and run the full 400' in the opposite direction to outrun the train?
What a nightmare!
What caused it? Heyland's brau or Glaabsbrau? I know he couldn't get a brown bottle. Spent my time in Babenhausen.
"How did the train get in the water?"
It was driven there??
The "gladhands" part of the air hoses connecting the air lines hang down pretty far also, but the cow catcher will have done you in long before that.
If we could only get our government to camp in train tunnels, many of our problems would be solved!
< cue harmonica >"Daniel kept a running from the train, all night long" well, at least untill he made 200' inside the tunnel.
THAT'S IT!
Yeah, I think you need to be some kind of rocket surgeon to figure this one out.
We need to limit the access to trains so that this doesn't happen again.
Ah, just like the old Timex ads - Take's a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
yes, thought about that too and is probably the case.
Great Post! I love Holmes and Watson!
I think I figured this one out.
He was on Ambien.
The train was never in the water.
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