Published: June 14, 2006 11:08 pm         

Crews search for rafting accident victim

Rescue workers navigated the treacherous rapids of the Upper Gauley River on Wednesday in search of a man presumed to have drowned in a rafting accident.

The man was among a scouting group being taken down the Upper Gauley by Oak Hill-based Ace Adventure Center, said Chief Ranger Gary Hartley of the New River Gorge National River. When the group reached the Iron Ring rapid near the Fayette-Nicholas county line, the man was ejected from the raft. He was last seen going toward a rock.

Hartley said the man was in his late 60s and his hometown was unknown. The man’s identity was being withheld Wednesday night to ensure notification of next of kin. The search was suspended at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, and it was to be resumed at daylight today.

The group was on a Class V rapid, one of the most difficult rapids in whitewater rafting, Hartley said.

There was no indication anyone else on the raft was injured, Hartley said. How the man was ejected will require further investigation by the National Park Service and the state Division of Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over commercial whitewater rafting outfits.

“There’s a group of rocks we suspect this individual is caught underneath,” Hartley said. “This requires a high level of technical skill.”

The operations are taking place in one of the park’s most remote areas, Hartley said. Rescue workers’ hand-held radios will not function there.

The Ansted and Nutall volunteer fire departments were assisting the park service, Hartley said.

This time of year is not the normal season for whitewater trips on the Upper Gauley, Hartley said, but Ace Adventure Center has apparently been doing summer trips for several years. Compared to Gauley season in September and October, the water level is lower.

“(But) the rapids can be more technically difficult,” he said.

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