Sonora Woman Victim Of Rafting Accident

Knights Ferry, CA – Emergency personnel tried to revive a Sonora woman after she went under the water while on an inner tube in the Stanislaus River south of the Knights Ferry Bridge on Wednesday afternoon.

The Stanislaus County Coroner’s office confirmed the victim was 22-year-old Rachel Terrazas of Sonora.  CPR was done by witnesses and emergency responders on the river bank.  Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District officials report Terrazas never regained consciousness and was flown to Oak Valley Hospital in Oakdale were she was pronounced dead.

District Battalion Chief Kevin Wise noted Terrazas had a life jacket, stating, “When we found her there was one hanging on her arm. There was about six or seven people that were with her and they all had them on.” Chief Wise states that Terraza was with some co-workers floating down the river on inner tubes that had been tied together.  The rope got caught on a tree causing two of the tubes to collide, tossing Terraza into the water, which Chief Wise notes, “It’s really fast through there. It’s at about 2,000 CFS [cubic feet per second] when it happened. That’s a lot of force…She got entangled in the rope around her belly. The weight of her body against the rope, pulling against the tree and it just forced her under.”

The coroner says the official cause of death has not been determined as an autopsy is scheduled for Friday.