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."
Definitely a Darwin finalist!
Ok, it's official. I hate misleading headlines.
He was from Asheville, NC.
This was a diesel chugging through the mountains not an electric.
Now that's a headline I haven't seen.
How did the train get in the water?
Shoot, this is a real brain teaser.....
(I'm still thinking).
200 feet is the equivilent of 20 stories. I must have been a real bad storm.
How did the train get in the water?
That was around '89-'90? I seem to recall that, or a similar incident....
That says it all!
One can't help but wonder why didn't he just get in his vehicle to avoid getting wet.
Yah, I know kayaking carries a number of risks but I never would have thought that trains were among them.
Maybe this guy watched too many Roadrunner cartoons as a kid, and thought if he was hit by a train he'd just be flat for a few moments, and would pop back into shape when he stood up.
He paddled and wrote prolifically, I'm certina he'll be missed. From Canoe and Kayak[he's on the left]:
The gangs all here...Daniel DeLaVergne, John Grace, Johnnie Kern, Riley Cathcart, Pat Keller, Tommy Hilleke
I paddle almost every weekend around the LowCountry. I have been wanting to start a paddler's ping list on FR. Anyone interested? Respond here, or FReepmail me.
The soldier and his buddy were drinking and wanted to find their way back to the barracks, so they began following train tracks to the Hanau train station. As they neared the station, they had to walk on the tracks to cross a small bridge. While they were on the bridge, the train came. His buddy edged against the wall of the bridge and had his legs battered by the train, but he survived and somehow made it home.
When his friend didn't appear at formation, they asked him about it. That's when he 'fessed up and they found the body an hour later. Because of that, every soldier in Germany underwent "train safety" briefings and they spent $$$ warning soldiers not to follow train tracks.
DUH !!!
"I hear that train a-commin', it's rollin' around the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when... "
I camped under a low railroad bridge once, and that was bad enough. No trains went over during daylight, but they were about one half hour apart all night long.
Not much sleep that night.
"Darwin Award candidate. Camping in a train tunnel."
Darwin Award candidate. Kayaking in a train tunnel.
Consolences to the family.
Sometimes the 'light at the end of the tunnel' is a train.
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