Pennsylvania woman dies after capsizes during guided rafting trip in Alaska

A Pennsylvania woman died Sunday after her raft capsized on the Klutina River near Copper Center.

According to an Alaska State Trooper report, Deborah Ann Burke, 65, of Harrisburg, was aboard a river raft with a guide and two other passengers when the river current crushed the raft against debris from the landslide and capsized it.

Other rafts in the guided group retrieved the guide, Burke and another passenger, troopers said. Good Samaritans in a motorboat rescued the fourth person downriver and brought him to emergency crews waiting at a boat ramp near the Richardson Expressway bridge over the Klutina River, trooper spokesman Tim DeSpain said in an email.

Burke died as a result of her injuries, deputies said. Emergency services were unable to save her.

Another passenger and the guide were taken to Gulkana Airport and then evacuated to Anchorage with serious injuries.

Copper River guides led the trip, which hit water around 4:30 p.m., DeSpain said. Troopers were notified about the incident around 6:25 p.m. The company could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Copper Center is about 200 miles east of Anchorage, where the Klutina River meets the Copper River. Companies that market rafting trips say the Klutina River has Class III rapids, but they vary in their descriptions of what to expect. Princess Lodges describes it as “fun and splashy.” Salmon Grove Campground & Fishing Charters describes it as “a very fast river that flows at up to 14 mph” that only experienced boaters should ride.

A National Weather Service stream gauge shows river levels at Copper Center rising during June and leveling off so far this month.