Body of second victim located after Whatcom rafting accident on Nooksack River
The body of the second victim who was swept downriver after a raft overturned on the North Fork of the Nooksack River was located Wednesday afternoon, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday. Both victims were men.
A man’s body was located at approximately 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, according to a sheriff’s office news release, after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter found it downriver from the Mount Baker Highway bridge just west of Glacier.
The first body was located by kayakers associated with Whatcom County Fire District 19 at approximately 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14. The young man’s body was found submerged in a log jam approximately a half-mile down river from where the raft flipped, according to Thursday’s release.
At approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday, a commercially operated river raft with four customers and a guide flipped at a rapid near the Snowline neighborhood of Glacier, the release states.
The guide aided in the rescue the two female customers, according to the release, but the two men were swept downstream.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office dispatched Summit to Sound swift water rescue technicians along with K9 and drone teams to search the area, according to the release. Border Patrol, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) also responded, along with a CBP helicopter, arriving at approximately 4:30 p.m.
After the first man’s body was found Tuesday, the search for the second had to be suspended due to darkness, but it resumed at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the release.
Neither of the men’s bodies showed any obvious signs of trauma according to the release, and Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the cause of death of the first man was drowning. The cause of death of the second has not yet been confirmed, but the medical examiner believes it also to be drowning.
No other identifying information about the two men was included in Thursday’s release, and the name of the commercial rafting company also was not included.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 10:52 AM.
CORRECTION: Fire district of volunteers that found the first body was corrected June 17, 2022. The guide’s role in the rescue of the two female customers was updated June 21, 2022.
