Selway River rafting accident victims identified

LEWISTON – Idaho County Coroner Cody Funke released the names of two people who died while rafting the upper Selway River on Saturday.

Daniel Trianafillou, 41, and Matthew Lane, 35, lived in Colorado, but their towns of residence were not immediately available. Funke said Tuesday the cause of death for both men is still pending.

According to the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office, the men perished in an accident while rafting through the remote Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area in a section of river between Double Drop and Wa-Poots rapids.

The river is known for its challenging whitewater, especially in May and June when it swells with snowmelt and can surge to dangerous levels. The river surpassed 18,000 cubic feet per second Saturday – 9 feet on the U.S. Geological Survey gauge near Lowell.

The sheriff’s office received an SOS message from a GPS device and later a 911 text message Saturday afternoon indicating CPR was being performed on the two men who were pulled from the water in separate locations about 2 miles apart.

Both men were dead when a Life Flight helicopter reached the remote area. Their bodies were recovered Sunday by a helicopter crew from Two Bear Air Rescue out of Kalispell that specializes in wilderness and other emergencies in remote areas.

The upper Selway River is a coveted, multiple-day rafting trip that is regulated by permit from May 15 to July 31. During that time, only one party of river runners is allowed to launch each day.

The river is unregulated outside of the control season and people sometimes plan trips for the shoulder seasons.

In the spring, that means cold and high water and the possibility of dangerously high flows.