12-year-old boy dies in rafting accident during school trip to the Poconos: Superintendent
A 12-year-old boy from New York died in a rafting accident during an annual class trip to the Poconos in Pennsylvania, school officials said.
The incident occurred Wednesday evening in East Penn Township during a guided rafting excursion on the Lehigh River, according to the Carbon County Coroner's Office.
The student was identified by the coroner's office and school officials as Cesar Albarracin Guncay.
He was traveling with four others as part of a large group excursion when their inflatable raft capsized, ejecting all occupants into the river, according to Carbon County Coroner Jason Smith.
The four other occupants were safely removed from the water, though Cesar did not immediately resurface, "prompting immediate search and rescue operations," Smith said in a statement.
Smith said his office responded to a reported drowning around 6:12 p.m. Wednesday. Prior to their arrival, the child had been removed from the water by the Lehighton Fire Department Dive Team, he said.
The child was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, Smith said in a statement, calling it a "tragic loss."
Following an autopsy on Thursday, his cause of death has been ruled a drowning and the manner of death an accident, Smith said.
The student was a sixth grader in the Sag Harbor Union Free School District on Long Island, school officials said.
"There are no words to adequately express the depth of this loss," Sag Harbor Superintendent Jeff Nichols said in a letter to parents on Wednesday while sharing the "devastating news" of the student's death.
"Cesar was a cherished member of our school family, a child who mattered deeply to all who had the privilege of knowing him," Nichols said. "His absence will leave an irreplaceable space in our classrooms, our hallways and our lives."
The incident is being investigated by the Carbon County Coroner's Office, in coordination with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
