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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Thursday, July 27, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Cape Hatteras NS Two Killed In Motor Vehicle Accident Around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 23rd, a vehicle headed north on Highway 12 at a high rate of speed slammed into the railing of a bridge near the Ocracoke campground entrance, then went off the road and into a pond. The driver, who was injured, fled on foot, but was soon caught. The jaws of life had to be used to enter the vehicle through the roof and extricate the three passengers. The driver side passenger was killed in the accident and a second passenger later died in the hospital. All four had been at a social event on Ocracoke Island. Both speed and alcohol are believed to have been contributing factors. [Norah Martinez, Chief Ranger] Olympic NP Drowning In Lake Crescent A 20-year-old Port Angeles man died on the afternoon of July 25th after an apparent drowning in the Devil's Punchbowl on the north shore of Lake Crescent. Jesse Thanem was reported missing by a friend at approximately 12:45 p.m. The two had been swimming together for about ten minutes when Thanem disappeared. Following a quick search, Thanem's friend called 911. Several park rangers and divers responded and quickly found Thanem's body in about 55 feet of water. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful and Thanem was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 1:25 p.m. [Barb Maynes, Public Affairs Officer] Cape Lookout NS Drowning On North Core Banks On July 24th, K.E., 33, was playing in the surf with three children when the tide pulled them out between 50 and 150 yards into the ocean. Another family member entered the water and rescued two of the children; K.E. retrieved the third and tossed him to other family members who swam the boy safely to shore. Shortly thereafter, the tide took K.E. back out to sea. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. A park visitor, hearing cries of distress, grabbed his boogie board and went into the ocean to assist K.E.. The visitor was struggling when Student Conservation Association aid Ryan Hamilton jumped into the surf, swam out to his location, and helped swim K.E. to shore. Hamilton, wildlife biologist Jeff Cordes and four visitors performed CPR on K.E. until the arrival of a medical evacuation helicopter from Cherry Point Naval Air Station. K.E. was transported to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 1 p.m. The accident is still under investigation. [Barry Munyan, Law Enforcement Operations Supervisor] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Director's Office - Director Mainella announces her resignation Media - Article from the front page of yesterday's New York Times about challenges and threats to US Forest Service rangers Natural Resource Program Center - George Dickison named director Midwest Region - Job announcement for superintendent of Mississippi NR&RA * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |