Canoeist drowns on Nooksack River
Published 9:00 pm Friday, May 10, 2002
Associated Press
EVERSON — A 45-year-old woman who drowned after a canoe capsized in the Nooksack River was identified Friday as Laurie Rasmussen of Bellingham, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said.
Rasmussen got stuck in a logjam after being swept downstream Thursday, said Detective Sgt. Kevin McFadden.
Search and rescue crews recovered her body Thursday afternoon, about 2 1/2hours after someone on a cell phone called 911 to report seeing a canoe overturned in the river.
Another woman in the same canoe suffered a head injury but managed to make it safely to shore. The two had been training for the annual Memorial Day Ski-to-Sea race, which starts on Mount Baker and ends south of Bellingham, Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Ferry said.
Two men in another canoe survived when they swam to a sandbar after their boat capsized on the same stretch of the river, sheriff’s officers said.
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