A 12-year-old Pierson Middle School student drowned Wednesday after an inflatable raft capsized during a class rafting trip in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, sending five people into the Lehigh River in East Penn Township.
The boy was identified as Cesar Albarracin Guncay, a sixth grader from Sag Harbor, New York. The Carbon County Coroner’s Office said officials were called after a report of a drowning near the river’s 99-mile marker, and the Lehighton Fire Department dive team later recovered his body and took him to a nearby staging area. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m.
The outing was part of an annual school field trip with a guided rafting excursion, and this year’s sixth grade trip was in its third year. There were 74 students on the chaperoned trip, and students who had planned to stay overnight returned early and arrived back at the school at 2 a.m. on Thursday.
Jeff Nichols, speaking for the school, said Cesar was a cherished member of the school family and that his absence would leave an irreplaceable space in classrooms, hallways and lives. He said there were no words to adequately express the depth of the loss. Hilary and Steve Bretzik said their entire team was heartbroken by what occurred and that their first concern was for Cesar’s family and friends.
Mike Parker said life jackets were in use at the time of the accident, but he also noted that even with a life jacket on, other factors can still be involved. Pennsylvania had 10 recreational boating fatalities in the previous year, and eight of those deaths involved people who were not wearing life jackets. The Carbon County Coroner’s Office described Cesar’s death as an accidental drowning.
The facts point to a tragedy that happened fast. All five people aboard the raft were ejected when it overturned, and one person did not resurface. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said it would review safety equipment as part of the investigation, while school officials said counselors would be available for students and staff in the days ahead. For the Pierson Middle School community, the question now is not what the trip was supposed to be, but how a routine field outing ended with a child gone and classmates sent home before dawn.
