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3 Irish tourists dead in Austrian rafting tragedy

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — Austrian police have launched an investigation into a whitewater accident in which three Irish people and a Briton died when a raft was swept over a weir on a fast-flowing Alpine river on Monday.

The incident, in which other four other people, including an Irish woman were injured, happened after a line tying the flat-bottomed craft apparently broke free. The raft went hurtling down the river, which was swollen by melting snows.

The accident happened on the Salzach river between Taxenbach and Lend, about 50 miles south of Salzburg

The Department of Foreign Affairs named the dead as Alan Daly, 35, from County Meath, who was accompanied by his wife, who is in hospital under observation; John McGeogh, 28, from Dublin but living in London, and Emma Duke, 28, also believed to be from Dublin.

It is understood that the raft had pulled into a disembarkation point on the bank of the river, upstream of the weir, so that passengers could walk around the stretch of river. The raft was carrying eight passengers and a guide and one person had gotten out before the rope broke.

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All the passengers were wearing life jackets, but the raft capsized and they were dragged down by a strong undertow in the fast-running water. Another raft carrying a party of Britons had docked successfully just moment before the tragedy.

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