Posted on 06/28/2010 5:45:26 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
A canoe with four occupants went over a diversion dam and broke apart on a South Dakota river, killing three people and leaving an 8-year-old survivor to walk barefoot about two hours for help, authorities said.
The canoe was "sucked into the turbulent waters below" the dam on the Belle Fourche River Sunday afternoon, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office in western South Dakota.
Killed were Jeramy Rogers, 38; his daughter Sierra Rogers, 11; and his U.S. Forest Service (USFS) coworker and friend Andrew Korth, 26. All lived on the same block in Rapid City, S.D.
Isabella Rogers, another daughter, made it to land and walked two hours to Hwy. 212 east of Belle Fourche, where she flagged down a vehicle and reported the accident.
Isabella is a "very brave and courageous young lady," said Sheriff's Deputy Doug Parrow. "She never cried. She gave me her address, the names [and explained] what happened."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Look for the agency that diverted the water here with no warning to get sued real bad.
What a nightmare!
I’d never have a boat above a damn on a river. Nothing good could possibly happen there!
Prayers for the family, and the neighborhood.
The little girl is a survivor. She survived her roughest day and will have a lot of rough days ahead, mentally. She’ll make it though. We South Dakota girls are tough. Wish I still lived there.
The ‘adults’ were described as “both really experienced” outdoorsmen....yet they were canoeing without jackets.
Something tells me that they had no idea where they were going with young children...
This is aweful.
Belle Fourche, SD is the geographic center of the 50 states.
(Smith Center, KS is it for the 48 states.)
Oh my — two hours walk for a little 8 year old girl. Prayers up for her.
Betcha didn’t know it is pronounced Bell Foosh! Just like the capital is pronounced “Peer.”
Still a sad story. I just want to rescue that poor little girl during those terrible two hours. Yikes!
Both men were US Forest Service workers. No way guys like that were novices with a canoe. I wonder how it happened. Prayers for the surviving little girl.
Yeah, could a case of the diversion damn being somewhat new, and not known about. You’d think they would have warnings of some sort on the water. Whenever I take a boat out on a river for any distance, I’m always mindful of where the damns are.
Number one.....you don’t get into a canoe without a jacket. Experienced or not.
The damns are usually in my vocabulary.....LOL
lol!!!
Well... they both sound the same. If we were talking about it in person, you wouldn’t know which kind of damn/dam I was referring to. :p
That is true....I wouldn’t..:O)
All the jackets in the world won’t help if you hit your head on a rock.
Why take children out on something like this, unprepared?
C’mon...
Oh, absolutely! I would never get into any vessel without having a life jacket—won’t even let my dog on a boat without one, much less a cherished child. I just meant that the adults might well have had jackets, but could have died anyway from blows to the head. I live in a place where people die from being swept over and through the falls, and a park ranger told me at one time that a life jacket won’t help you if you go through; you die from being battered. The situation might be the same if one is swept over a dam.
Number one.....you don’t get into a canoe without a jacket. Experienced or not.
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I guess. It certainly is important to wear life jackets when boating, especially when you are responsible for children.
But, according to the reports, the ‘adults’...the ‘experienced’ adults, weren’t experienced enough to take the most rudimentary of precausions while canoeing with small children.
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