Kayaker drowns in Rogue capsizing

Monday, June 30, 2008 |
A California woman died Friday after the kayak she was riding capsized in the Blossom Bar rapids on the upper Rogue River.
According to a Curry County Sheriff’s Office press release, a two-person inflatable kayak was passing through the class-four rapids at about 2:30 p.m. when it hit a rock. Both occupants fell out and strong currents pulled them under water.
According to Sheriff John Bishop, Cynthia Vontungein, 56, of Irvine, Calif., became caught between rocks and drowned.
Rescuers got the other kayaker, Michelle Shillinglaw, 38, of Austin, Texas, and took her to Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach.
Personnel tried unsuccessfully several times to free the body. On one attempt, Marine Deputy Ted Heath and Bishop almost had to jump off of the marine boat as it approached a rock while going through the rapids. They were trying to reach a rescuer stranded on a rock in the middle of Blossom Bar. Heath was able to get the motor running again and kept the boat from hitting the rocks and capsizing.
Efforts to retrieve Vontungein’s body since have been unsuccessful.
“She’s just wedged between the rocks in a spot we can’t get to,” Bishop said.
Tags »
Embed This Article
Feel free to embed this article onto your website by copying the
code below and pasting it into your site's HTML.
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines