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Family Nearly Drowns While Braving OKC’s White Water Rapids

8:56 AM EDT on August 6, 2020

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Until a few years ago, drowning in OKC's white water rapids wasn't a possibility. But now, thanks to human ingenuity and MAPS 3, it's on Visit OKC's shortlist of the "10 Most Adventuresome Ways To Kick The Bucket in the 405."

Via KFOR:

A family visiting Oklahoma says a trip to Riversport Adventures turned dangerous.

“We almost lost our lives. I could have lost my wife. I could have lost my child,” said James Wolfe.

Wolfe, his wife, Kimberly, and their 12-year-old son, Wesley, visited Riversport Adventures in late July and decided to go white water rafting. They say their first trip down the river went smoothly, but their second trip went south.

“The raft entirely capsized on top of us throwing my wife over me. I just said, ‘I gotta get this raft off me, I’ve gotta breathe,’” said Wolfe.

Wolfe says he was taught a maneuver to escape from the raft, but he says it wasn’t working. Finally, he used all of his strength to flip it over.

“I was gonna do anything I could to survive, and I knew my wife was under there as well,” he said.

It's amazing how strong the will to live can be, especially when you're facing an embarrassing death at the hands of OKC's artificial white water rapids! Seriously, outside of dying in an avalanche in the OKC Silos, or falling to your death because the parachute didn't open at iFly, it would be one of the worst ways to go out.

Here's more:

Wolfe and his son made it back to dry land, but his wife was swept downstream with the rushing waters. She was eventually rescued, but she says she could barley breathe and had cuts and bruises.

“We were battered and bruised quite a bit,” said Wolfe.

Lucas Williams, Director of Operations at Riversport, says a raft flipping over or visitors falling into the water isn’t uncommon. He also says all visitors are required to sign liability waivers, but that safety is a priority.

Hmmn. Safety is a priority, but people falling into the raging white water isn't uncommon? That makes as much sense as OKC having a white water rafting facility in the first place.

Anyway, according to KFOR, the victims went full Karen and asked to speak with the manager after the near-death experience. Hopefully, they get some free ride coupons out of the harrowing experience.

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