A 22-year-old University of Idaho student from Nepal died in a rafting accident on the Selway River July 21.
Bishal Shrestha had been rafting with four other UI students when the raft got stuck and popped, spilling all five occupants into the river.
“It’s my understanding that their raft hit a limb that was sticking out into the river and they were all pitched from the raft,” said Bruce Pitman, UI dean of students.
Pitman said the other students made it safely to shore and were picked up by another group of rafters and taken back to their campsite.
“A search was initiated by people who were camping in the area, plus members of the staff from the river company and there was obviously notification made to the sheriffs office and a more formal search process was undertaken,” Pitman said. “I don’t know exactly what time the raft flipped, but it was late enough that they were not able to find his body until the next day because they had to suspend the search because it was dark.”
Pitman said there happened to be a UI staff person camping in the area who was able to provide assistance and advice to the students.
“I’m afraid that if she had not of been there we would not have heard about this until several days later,” Pitman said.
Shrestha’s brother was one of the survivors of the raft trip.
“Soon after the accident and soon after there was confirmation of the drowning his brother booked a flight and flew to Nepal,” Pitman said. “He wanted to tell his family members directly and be with them when they heard the news as opposed to doing it by phone or some other electronic way.”
Pitman said there will not be a memorial service held on campus and the biggest concern for the family is the transport of Shrestha’s body to Nepal.
“It’s a very complicated process and members of this friendship group and the family want to deal with this tragedy through their religious practices,” Pitman said. “They’re Hindu and they have certain expectations that they want to fulfill.”
Pitman said during situations that occur in remote areas, and are not associated with the university other than the people involved, the university works collaboratively with the agencies involved to deal with the emergency.
“In some circumstances like this we don’t have much of a formal role other than providing support to counseling services and support to those who are traumatized by it,” Pitman said. “We have reached out to several of the students who were involved and offered counseling services and we’re very grateful to the staff person who happened to be there and just paid a lot of very important attention to these students.”
The Argonaut will continue to update as information becomes available.