Shortly before 11 a.m. June 2, two former St. Mary’s County residents and a Louisiana woman were killed on the Snake River, Wyoming, when their river raft capsized.
Elizabeth, 58, and John Rizas, 63, formerly of St. Mary’s County, and Linda Clark, 69, of Louisiana, were after the 12-passenger guided river tour raft struck a downed tree and flipped over.
John Rizas was a retired dentist, and Elizabeth Rizas a retired teacher, who has worked at Little Flower School in Great Mills and St. John’s School in Hollywood. They retired to Beaufort, S.C., less than two years ago.
See Obituary at TheBayNet.com obituaries.
Grand Teton National Park officials report the group was on a 10-mile scenic rafting trip with Grand Teton Lodge Company in the “Many Moose” area of the Snake River, one-half mile downstream of the historic Bar BC dude ranch.
Twelve passengers were spilled out of the raft and into the Snake River as the boat became lodged against a root ball of a live tree that had recently flushed into that section of the river during spring run-off.
The force of the river current pushed the raft toward the tree, where it hit the exposed root ball and became pinned by the current. The swift flowing water then pushed the boat up and into a vertical position, leaving the passenger compartment facing the upstream flow. As the boat tipped onto its side, the passengers fell into the water.
The 15-passenger raft was carrying 12 passengers and one boatman. All of the boaters were wearing class-five personal flotation devices.
Additional boatmen from four commercial float trip raft companies, who were in the vicinity at the time of the accident, assisted in getting the other nine passengers out of the water and onto the riverbank.
Two individuals received CPR and advanced life support care at the accident scene and during transport to the medical center, but could not be revived. A third individual was submerged in a log jam, and was unresponsive when discovered.
That section of the Snake River is woody and braids into three narrow channels. The center channel, where the accident occurred, takes a slight curve to the right, making it challenging to get a clear downstream view until a boat has fully entered into the channel’s flow.
It is estimated that there have been 20 fatalities associated with recreation – resulting from swimming, fishing, hiking, and boating activities – on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park since record keeping began in the 1930s.
On average, approximately 63,000 people float the Snake River with commercially guided trips in Grand Teton National Park each summer, with about two-thirds being on guided float trips.